Republican congressional candidate Jeb Bradley altered his attack ad against primary rival John Stephen, striking from it that Stephen was “under investigation” over a critical, elderly services audit while Stephen was state health and human services commissioner.

A chorus of Stephen supporters from The Union-Leader of New Hampshire and ex-Gov. Craig Benson to Manchester Mayor Frank Giunta had demanded last week that Bradley pull down the ad.

Instead, Bradley tacked on a Foster’s Daily Democrat quote from Stephen who said the lawsuit from county officials about a revamping of county-state cost sharing under Medicaid was “not my problem.”

Meanwhile, the only Stephen TV commercial on air for two weeks has been an attack spot against Bradley for past opposition to drilling offshore for oil and supporting deficit spending while in the U.S. House.

Over the holiday weekend,  Stephen picked up the endorsement of the Portsmouth Herald.

The two will tangle in their only televised debate Thursday night at 8 p.m. on WMUR-TV.