Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign was forced to cancel a plan to air $63,000 worth of commercials during broadcasts of The Weather Channel in Florida.

As Hurricane Matthew, a deadly category 4 storm, gains strength, the move initially brought a chorus of catcalls from Republicans.

Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said Thursday afternoon that Hillary For America has asked the stations to delay the ads until after the storm passes.

The Florida Weather Channel ads were part of a multimillion-dollar reshuffling of Clinton ads to reach voters the campaign sees as critical to winning the presidential election.

CALLOUS? Hillary Clinton's campaign planned to spend $63,000 to run ads on Florida TV stations that broadcast The Weather Channel – until they were called out as opportunists

KILLER STORM: Hurricane Matthew barreled down on Florida and Team Hillary schemed to take advantage of a captive audience trying to find out how bad it would be

SMACKDOWN: The chairman of the Republican Party lashed out at Clinton with a variation on Chicago Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel's political dictum: 'Never let a crisis go to waste'

Two states in the path of the storm – Florida and North Carolina – are key battlegrounds that could decide the presidency.

But Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus characterized the planned spending as cynical opportunism in the face of disaster.

'Couldn't let this crisis go to waste?' Priebus tweeted. 'Shameful @HillaryClinton's campaign even considered exploiting Hurricane Matthew for political gain.'

Later he vented in another tweet that '[p]ulling these ads after getting caught won't cut it. @HillaryClinton should apologize for using storm for votes.'

'APOLOGIZE': The GOP head honcho demanded contrition from Clinton – but won't likely get any

NOT WATCHING TV ANYWAY: Residents of St. Augustine, Florida hunkered down Thursday in shelters as the hurricane approached

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook played defense on a call with reporters Thursday afternoon, insisting that 'our first priority on Hurricane Matthew is that people are safe.'

'We'll get back to campaigning [in Florida] when it is appropriate,' he said.he also called it 'unfortunate' that Priebus was 'trying to politicize the hurricane.'

‘We were in the process of buying television time nationwide on hundreds of different media outlets. The Weather Channel, which is less than 1 percent of the television time that we were buying, was part of that,' Mook protested.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had cautioned political operatives to avoid making hay with the storm.

'I encourage both presidential campaigns to be sensitive to all affected by Hurricane #Matthew in the coming days,' he tweeted.

LOW ENERGY? Jeb Bush, a onetime Republican presidential hopeful, tut-tutted both remainig campaigns to keep Hurricane Matthew out of their political calculations

Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, told 'Fox & Friends' on Thursday morning that the Clinton ad buy was 'a risky proposition.'

'I don't know what they're going to say,' he shrugged while the plan was still in place.

'We don't know, but clearly if they're out being too political at a time when the country has its prayers with the people who are being affected, I think it could backfire.'

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham added on CNN that 'There will be a lot of people watching the Weather Channel' in the Sunshine State.'

'But I don't know if they want to see a politician talking about politics,' the former presidential contended continued.