NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Corker Calls for RNC to Pull Negative Ad

Corker Calls for RNC to Pull Negative Ad

In a strange twist of events, Bob Corker is calling for an ad that attacks his opponent to be taken off the air.

The Ford campaign believes Corker knew about the ad, sponsored by the Republican National Committee, from the start.

The controversy surrounds a political ad that has caused quite a stir since it came out Friday night.

From alleged porn industry contributions, to terrorism, and gun control, the ad attacking Harold Ford, Jr. packs a political punch.

"[It's] simply beneath the people of Tennessee, and we knew it was important to speak out right away," Tom Lee, with Ford's campaign, said.

They did. Hours after the ad hit the air Friday night, Ford shot an ad in response.

But strangely enough, the Corker campaign is against the ad too. His election campaign is calling for TV stations to stop airing it.

"We believe though that the ad is over the top, that it should be pulled down," Lee said.

The Corker camp said they didn't know anything about it until it aired. Ford's people believed that's was a lie. They have pictures of Corker traveling with the same RNC staffer who said the ad wasn't being pulled off the airwaves.

"On one side of the campaign office, Corker sends out a press release that says we don't like this ad, and the other side of the press office, the person stands up and says this ad stays up. I think Tennesseans understand that, I think they know what that is. It's not true," Lee said.

The Corker campaign said if they knew this ad was coming out, they'd be breaking the law, which they say they didn't.

"The RNC actually has set up a system so that those within the RNC don't know what ads are going up by Federal Law, the new campaign finance law requires that campaigns don't coordinate on this sort of advertisement," Todd Womack with the Ford campaign said.

The Corker Campaign has requested that Channel 5 take the attack ad off the air. By law, Channel 5 cannot remove the ad until the Republican National Committee makes the request.