A new radio ad attempts to tie U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole to high gas prices.

The minute-long ad by liberal 527 group Majority Action is airing on radio stations in Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham and Wilmington this weekend.

Noting the upcoming Fourth of July holiday with the sound of fireworks, it argues that Dole voted against higher fuel mileage standards in 2003.

"Gas prices are over $4 a gallon, and if you’re traveling this holiday weekend one person you can thank for your higher fuel costs is Elizabeth Dole," the narrator says as ominous music plays.

Dole voted against an amendment that year to an energy bill that would have mandated increased mileage standards, though she voted for another amendment that would have directed the Secretary of Transportation to raise them instead.

Dole's rival, state Sen. Kay Hagan, says she is not involved in the ad, and Majority Action says the ad is not intended to influence the Senate race.

But Dole's campaign has called on Hagan to disavow outside advertising.

A transcript after the jump.

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