Republican Arlen Specter might be a senior U.S. senator with a comfortable lead in virtually every poll, but his television commercials are as negative as those of a desperate challenger.

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In his latest ad, Specter accuses his opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-Montgomery County, of voting for 154 tax increases.

TRANSCRIPT OF COMMERCIAL: "Does Joe Hoeffel share your values?

"Hoeffel voted for higher taxes on Social Security benefits.

"Hoeffel voted for higher income taxes. Higher property taxes. Higher gas taxes. One hundred fifty-four tax increases.

"And as county commissioner, Joe Hoeffel voted to cut health care, then voted for a 27 percent increase in his personal office budget.

"So does Joe Hoeffel share your values?"

ACCURACY CHECK: Specter employs a rather loose definition of "tax increases" to arrive at the total of 154.

In fact, using his own definition, Specter has voted for several tax increases himself.

Most of the "tax increases" referred to in the commercial weren't tax increases at all. Instead, they were votes Hoeffel has cast against Republican tax cut bills over the last four years.

For instance, Hoeffel didn't vote to increase Social Security taxes. Instead, in 2000, he voted against a Republican bill that sought to roll back a 1993 tax that was levied on part of the benefits paid to the richest one-fifth of Social Security recipients.

The ad's claim that Hoeffel increased property taxes also doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As a Montgomery County commissioner, Hoeffel did vote to increase property taxes on land and buildings, but only in a year when the county simultaneously eliminated property taxes on personal property.

And Hoeffel maintains that the 27 percent increase in the commissioner's budget was merely an accounting change. The county's law department previously had a budget of its own, then was put under the commissioner's budget in 1993, he said.

It's true that Hoeffel, as a state representative, voted for a state budget in 1983 that increased income and gas taxes.

But it's particularly hypocritical that Specter, in the commercial, scolds Hoeffel for approving higher gas taxes, when the senator himself voted for a gas tax increase in 1990.

ANALYSIS: This commercial comes straight out of the opening chapter of the negative campaigning playbook.

Accuracy-challenged campaign consultants routinely comb the voting records of opponents, looking for anything that can be portrayed -- or misrepresented -- as a vote for a tax increase.

Pennsylvanians desiring a more dignified campaign from their four-term senator might be disappointed, but Specter had already dashed the hopes of anyone expecting his television commercials to live up to the title of his 2001 memoir, "Passion for Truth."

Last month, he ran a TV ad that accused Hoeffel of voting to weaken mandatory sentencing standards, when in fact the Democrat also voted to lengthen mandatory sentences.