PORTLAND, Maine - Maine Republicans are criticizing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud for an independent video featuring a rap song that makes a lewd reference to Sen. Susan Collins.
The roughly five-minute video about Michaud's campaign was made by a Maine multimedia production company, not the campaign. Michaud campaign manager Matt McTighe says the campaign did not pay for the video or control its contents.
However, Michaud's campaign retweeted a link to the video on Thursday.
Maine Republican Party spokeswoman Deborah Sanderson called the video "absolutely appalling and completely inexcusable.''
Michaud's campaign says it asked the Bangor Daily News and the production company to take the video down on Thursday when it was made aware of the lyrics' meaning and accused Republicans of trying to mislead Maine voters.
A spokesman for Collins' re-election campaign declined to comment.