The National Republican Senatorial Campaign has pulled an ad targeting the Democratic candidate for Senate in West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin, after it was made public that the casting call for the ad had effectively asked actors to behave and dress like hicks.
The ad, which went up Tuesday, can no longer be found on YouTube, on the NRSC website, or on West Virginia Republican Senate candidate John Raese’s website.
The NRSC could not be reached for comment, but earlier today NBC News reported that Republican officials were saying that the ad would “be rotated out of their ad rotation.” That phrasing makes it seem like the decision to remove the ad was part of the normal flow of the campaign, but Lara Ramsburg, press secretary for Manchin, disputes this.
“I find that ridiculous since the ad just went up on Tuesday night,” she told The Daily Caller. “I can’t imagine that they planned to just air the ad, what, a day and a half? Clearly, they’re embarrassed, and they should be for the insulting way that they’ve portrayed West Virginians.”
But Mike Stuart, chairman of the West Virginia GOP, told TheDC he found it quite reasonable.
“It’s been running for quite some time. It’s been on the radio since the beginning of that campaign,” he said.
When it was pointed out that this was not the case, Stuart said, “maybe it was just since Tuesday, but it feels like longer than that.”
Despite the ad being taken out of rotation, Manchin’s campaign is not satisfied. They are demanding Raese apologize to West Virginians.
Stuart, however, had a different reaction to the kerfuffle. Asked who was responsible for taking the ad down, Stuart replied, “that wasn’t us taking it down, that’s for sure, ’cause the message was the perfect message, and it was the right message.”
“West Virginians are really concerned between the difference between West Virginia Joe and Washington Joe,” he explained, quoting the ad, and suggested that they refilm the ad in West Virginia.
“The West Virginians are a fantastic people. I’m a lifelong West Virginian, and my dad’s been a coal miner for 44 years, so we don’t like to see things like that,” Stuart said, referring to the stereotyping of the casting call. “But we’re more concerned with the White House casting call for the U.S. Senate: seeking a friend of Obama’s.”
