The commercial, which debuted late last week, invoked the city of Waterbury's darkest chapter and attempted to tie Republican Sam Caligiuri to the disgraced former mayor, now a convicted child sex offender.
But the ad has been pulled -- though Murphy spokesman Kristen Bossi says it may still pop up occasionally on television over the next few days because its already been slotted in.
The Murphy camp -- no stranger to being on the receiving end of what it calls inaccurate attack ads, both in the current cycle and in 2006 -- stands by the spot, which Caligiuri spokeswoman Tiffany Romero Grossman has denounced as "shameful and disgusting."
"We are constantly moving ads on and off the air, as all campaigns are,'' Bossi said.
"But Senator Caligiuri can't run away from his disastrous record in Waterbury, from taking the easy way out and raising taxes after he ran the city's budget into the ground, to cutting an outrageous deal with Mayor Giordano, which the Courant called 'unseemly.'
"The ad we have up now draws the stark contrast between the two candidates on how to create jobs, as Senator Caligiuri continues to inexplicably oppose Chris' Buy American job creation efforts.The choice couldn't be clearer on who has real ideas to create jobs in Connecticut to help the economy move forward.
"We've received a lot of feedback from people who were very surprised about Senator Caligiuri's record, including this deal, and feel it's relevant to their voting decision."
Capitol Watch had posted the ad over the weekend, but the YouTube link is now dead (hitting the play button results in a a message saying the video is now "private" and viewers would need friend the owner in order to watch.)
Murphy famously decried the negative attacks launched by Nancy Johnson in 2006. "[A]ttack ads like this are why I'm running for Congress...Nancy Johnson's misleading ad against me proves she's been in Washington too long. I'm running not only to change Congress but to change what people expect from politics. That's why I'm doing things differently."