The Mourdock campaign inserted a picture of Daniels and Mourdock standing together after a news conference into an ad that also features GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The new spot began airing Friday.
Daniels ducked a question about Mourdock's comments during an appearance on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" Thursday night, telling host Stephen Colbert he's a "non-combatant" in the race. Daniels has declined to campaign for candidates since being picked as Purdue University's next president, but still occasionally offers political analysis.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker argued Friday that Daniels' appearance in the ad violates his pledge not to campaign for candidates. But Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said any candidate's decision to highlight their previous work with Daniels, as Mourdock has done, does not violate the governor's pledge
"The governor remains completely faithful to his pledge to take no active part in political campaigns, but that does not mean that other people need to re-write their own histories," Jankowski said.
Spokesman Brose McVey said Mourdock is highlighting his previous work with Daniels and will not pull the picture from the ad.
Mourdock has refused to apologize for the comment, saying he was misunderstood and never meant that God intends rape. His campaign has called reaction from Democrats "sleazy" and has worked to shift the campaign narrative away from his comment, in part by showing himself with the state's less conservative Republican leaders.
The Mourdock campaign on Friday began running a web-ad touting Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman's endorsement and Mourdock travelled back to New Albany, Ind. — where he made the comment which rocked his campaign off course — to talk about health care policy with Attorney General Greg Zoeller.
That effort is being countered, in part, by $1.1 million being spent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to replay Mourdock's comment across the state through Election Day.
