Responding to Republican Jeff Beatty's first television ad, John Kerry's U.S. Senate re-election campaign said Wednesday that the TV spot uses figures that don't take inflation into account, and blasted Beatty's party for poor stewardship of the economy.

Beatty's first ad, released Wednesday, is set to hit airwaves Thursday. In it, the Beatty campaign criticizes the Boston lawmaker for rising gas prices, which were lower when Kerry was first elected in 1984.

Kerry spokeswoman Brigid O'Rourke took the Beatty camp to task for the ad, saying that, in 1984, everything cost less.

"Yeah Jeff," O'Rourke said, "it's called inflation. Milk was $2.26 and a dozen eggs were $1.01. Gas was 86 cents a gallon when Bill Clinton was in office."

O'Rourke also tied Beatty to President Bush's handling of the economy.

"In the eight years that George Bush and the Republicans have controlled the White House, gas prices have risen close to 400 percent, the housing market is in disaster and the economy is a mess. Jeff can tout his Republican ties as much as he wants. Massachusetts voters aren't stupid."