PORTLAND – Democrat Tom Allen lashed out Tuesday against Republican Susan Collins over campaign ads pointing out that he missed 157 votes in the House, calling them “petty, ugly and personal attacks.” Collins said she stood by the ads.

Allen called a news conference to repeat his contention that many of the missed votes occurred when his wife, Diana, was fighting breast cancer and his parents were dying.

“When she’s had an operation, when she’s had chemotherapy and radiation, there were times I had to be with her and yet Susan Collins is running petty, ugly and personal attacks that suggest on those occasions I should have been down in Washington,” Allen told reporters.

Collins, who has never missed a vote, said that being with a family member during a time of need is a good reason for missing a vote.

But she said Allen missed other votes while attending a Hollywood fundraiser and an all-expense-paid trip to Florida to address a pharmaceutical group. She told WCSH-TV that he missed 42 votes when he was in Washington, “not back here at home with Diana.”

It’s no surprise that Collins has raised the issue of roll call votes. She prides herself on never having missed a roll call during her more than 11 years in the Senate, a feat that recalls the late senator who inspired Collins’ political career, Margaret Chase Smith.

But Allen’s campaign maintains that his career record of 98 percent isn’t so bad, especially considering that the House takes many more votes than the Senate. Allen has cast more than 7,500 votes in his time in Washington while Collins has cast nearly 3,900.