Kevin McLaughlin, a spokesman for Mr. Raese’s campaign, emailed the following statement this afternoon: “The ad is ridiculous and I am happy to say that no one with the Raese campaign had anything to do with it. As a matter of fact, we asked that it be taken down long before it went public. But this race isn’t about TV ads, it’s about the future of West Virginia. Joe Manchin is desperate to avoid talking about the issues because he knows when we do that West Virginians overwhelmingly don’t want him in Washington rubber stamping President Obama’s radical agenda.”

Our original story follows:

A folksy anti-Obama campaign ad produced on behalf of John Raese, the Republican Senate candidate in West Virginia, may stop running soon after reports surfaced that the regular people featured in it were actually out-of-state actors. (The ad was pulled from YouTube late Thursday morning.)

Democrats have been trying to cast Mr. Raese, a wealthy businessman, as out of touch with average West Virginians. And Mr. Raese’s latest response was the television ad showing three men talking at a diner, saying that President Obama is “messing things up” and that Joe Manchin III, the state’s Democratic governor and candidate for Senate, supports him.

Imagine, then, the glee among Democrats when they got their hands on a casting call for the ad calling for actors with “a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look.” The document was provided to The Caucus by Democratic officials.

“These characters are from West Virginia, so think coal miner/trucker looks,” the casting call suggested. “Each character should bring several options and stay away from all black or all white or thin stripes (thicker stripes and plaid are good).”

On Thursday, Mr. Manchin called on his opponent to “immediately apologize” to the people of West Virginia.

“John Raese and his special interest friends have insulted the people of West Virginia and need to immediately apologize,” he said in a statement. “Not only have they been spending millions to try and buy this election with lies and distortions, we can now see once and for all what he and his friends really think of West Virginia and our people.”

Republican officials in Washington who paid for the advertisement say they had nothing to do with the language in the casting call document. It was written by a talent agency hired by the Republican ad firm in charge of producing the spot. But the officials clearly were embarrassed.

“We do not support it, and suffice to say, we would encourage our contractors to never work with this outside agency again,” said Brian Walsh, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The Republican ad firm, Jamestown Consulting, asked the talent agency to find several actors for the spot. In an e-mail to the agency, a Jamestown Consulting official wrote that they were looking for “two featured characters” and that the actors would be paid $400 each for a day’s work.

In the e-mail, the firm said they wanted “one male, age about 55, looking for someone to represent the middle of the country … Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia area, middle class.” And it said the other should be “age about 45, middle class, again, should represent the Ohio, Pittsburgh, West Virginia area of the country.”

The ad was produced by the independent expenditures arm of the N.R.S.C., which spends money on behalf of specific candidates. A Republican source said the ad was likely to be withdrawn soon in light of the stories about the actors. The source requested anonymity to discuss Republican advertising plans, which are normally kept confidential.

Mr. Walsh, the N.R.S.C. communications director, said he believed that voters understand that both parties often use actors in their political ads. And he sought to turn the conversation back to Mr. Manchin.

“While it’s one thing for actors to impersonate someone they’re not because it’s their job, it is entirely different when a governor is doing that so he can get promoted, as we’ve seen Joe Manchin do in this campaign,” Mr. Walsh said.

Here’s the full list of clothing suggestions listed in the casting call: