BATON ROUGE - Republican David Vitter has launched direct attacks against his GOP rivals in the Louisiana governor's race, and his competitors say that's a sign Vitter's struggling to hold on to his front-runner status.

Vitter, a U.S. senator, released ads this weekend describing Republican Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne as a liberal and tying Republican Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle to Democratic President Barack Obama.

Both struck back Monday at Vitter, who didn't show up for a forum with Angelle, Dardenne and Democratic contender John Bel Edwards.

Angelle said he was getting attacked because he was moving up in polls and Vitter felt threatened. Dardenne said Vitter was using misleading, Washington-style attacks.

Though he's escaped Vitter's attacks, Edwards said the senator was trying to distract from an unimpressive record in Congress.