Joe Biden has PAC TV ad removed

Washington - A political group urging Vice President Joe Biden to run for president pulled its first television ad off the air on Friday after Biden signalled he preferred that it not run.

One day after releasing the ad recalling Biden's family tragedies and vowing to spend six figures to air it on national television, the super PAC Draft Biden abruptly reversed course. Josh Alcorn, a senior adviser to the super PAC and a Biden family friend, said nobody respects Biden and his family more than Draft Biden.

Biden has said he's considering entering the presidential race, but has yet to make a decision, to the dismay of ardent supporters calling for him to run. He would challenge front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Although Draft Biden is an independent group and legally barred from coordinating with a campaign, it has attracted a number of supporters with close and longstanding ties to Biden and President Barack Obama.

The super PAC's inaugural ad featured audio from a speech Biden gave at Yale University in May, just a few weeks before his eldest son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer. In the ad, Biden recalls the car crash that killed his wife and daughter just after he was first elected senator in 1972, and says he found redemption by focusing on his sons. The ad ends with white lettering that reads: "Joe, run."

The ad drew criticism from Democrats and some Biden supporters for appearing to exploit his personal losses for political gain. Draft Biden announced plans to pull the ad almost immediately after word emerged in a Los Angeles Times report that Biden had seen the ad and hoped it wouldn't run.