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U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' vote in favor of Congress' taking a five-week hiatus has resulted in mounting criticism from Republicans — but her aides promise the next month won't be about lounging by the pool and sipping drinks with little umbrellas.

Aides say Giffords will be doing no actual "vacationing," just a packed schedule of campaign and congressional events. There's also the Democratic National Convention later this month in Denver, where Giffords will be a superdelegate.

But Republican interests — including the campaign of her challenger, Tim Bee — are taking Giffords and other congressional Democrats to task, saying the least Congress could do is pass an energy policy.

"Gabrielle Giffords apparently thinks that Arizona voters are willing to sit around and wait while their congressman goes on vacation as the cost of gasoline continues to soar," said Ken Spain with the National Republican Congressional Campaign.

And don't forget, it was Democrats who made a big fuss over Bee, president of the state Senate, taking a day off from his duties at the Capitol earlier this year to attend a Tucson fundraiser.

But Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said Giffords wants a compromise on the energy issue — not a stalemate. "This is not about adjournment," he said. "It's about differences over energy policy." He called it "absurd" to suggest Giffords would be vacationing.

So, guess this means Tim Bee won't be getting a postcard?

With Republicans having some of the lowest approval ratings in modern political history, one GOP official seems to think going negative is the best route — against fellow Republicans, that is.

As state Democrats continually badger Bee to explain how he differs from President Bush, the top congressional Republican campaign official in the country is reportedly advising people like Bee to take some shots at their own party.

"Don't be afraid to say you are disappointed in fellow Republicans . . . don't hesitate to be anti-Washington, D.C.," Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told campaigns in a conference call last week, according to the D.C. publication The Hill.

And in his quest to knock Giffords out of her 8th Congressional District seat, Bee will actually host Cole in Tucson next week for some events around town.

A fundraiser lunch will include U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, a potential candidate for Arizona governor in 2010.

But as for Cole's strategy advice, the campaign is not knocking fellow Republicans yet — just Giffords.

Bee spokesman Tom Dunn (who admitted to being on the Cole conference call) wouldn't take the bait when asked if Republicans are to blame for what he called "Washington's failed policies."

"The incumbent is in the majority party, and there's no solutions coming forward," he said of Giffords.

While Democrats really, really want to think Arizona is in play, John McCain is now 16 percentage points ahead of Barack Obama in a new statewide poll by Rasmussen Reports.

And his favorability rating in Arizona is up to 70 percent after slumping earlier this year.

Nevertheless, a recent story in The New York Times pondered how hard McCain will have to fight for Arizona, given the growth in new voters since McCain was last re-elected to his Senate seat.

"The number of independent voters in Arizona has risen 12 percent since 2004," the story said, "and those voters have helped send a Democrat to the governor's mansion."

OK. We suppose. That is, if you consider the pink condo Gov. Janet Napolitano has owned for years in Downtown Phoenix a "governor's mansion."

Arizona is one of the few states without such a residence.