BATON ROUGE, La. -- U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux is under attack from Washington, D.C.-based groups that say the freshman is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lackey and supports policies that will ensure gasoline stays expensive.

National Republicans are targeting Cazayoux for votes they say opposed expanded oil drilling and hamper efforts to bring gas prices down. A conservative independent group, Freedom's Watch, is running advertisements on Baton Rouge talk radio stations that say Cazayoux played a key role in the House's decision to take a summer vacation. The state GOP sent out an e-mail Wednesday that attacked Cazayoux as anti-drilling.

Cazayoux, who favors additional drilling offshore and in Alaska, said the groups are using "total distortions, if not outright lies." Since he arrived in Congress in May, the House has taken one vote directly related to oil drilling -- Cazayoux voted for the pro-drilling amendment.

"They're citing procedural votes that had nothing to do with drilling. They're just distorting," he said.

Cazayoux spokesman Lewis Lowe said the House's recess is a tradition going back generations.

The state Republican Party also painted the congressman as anti-drilling in its e-mail.

"Time and time again Cazayoux tells his constituents that he supports new domestic production and time and time again he votes against domestic production," state GOP spokesman Aaron Baer said in the e-mail.

Cazayoux's GOP challenger, state Sen. Bill Cassidy, has not run attack ads.

A Cassidy spokesman said he expects that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will pour resources into the race, including attack ads directed at the Republican as the Nov. 4 election nears.

"We know it's coming," spokesman Chris Ingram said. "We just don't know when, or what the contents of it will be."

The third candidate, state Rep. Michael Jackson, did not return a call for comment. Jackson, of Baton Rouge, is a former Democrat who registered as an independent.

The 6th Congressional District includes all or part of nine parishes: Ascension, East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena, Pointe Coupee, Iberville, and East and West Feliciana.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)