Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Malama Solomon has pulled a television ad that features fake headlines under The Honolulu Advertiser's official masthead.

The Hawai'i Republican Party yesterday criticized the ads, which show the newspaper's Oct. 11 edition doctored to include headlines that criticize the Iraq war, the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the state's housing costs.

The ads began running on Saturday and The Advertiser's editor, Mark Platte, said he called Solomon on Monday to ask that they be taken off the air.

"I'm pleased that the ads have been pulled," Platte said yesterday. "They were made-up headlines superimposed on our front page, and I'm sure our readers were confused as to whether they were real or whether we sanctioned the use of The Advertiser in these ads. We did not," he said.

Sam Aiona, chairman of the Hawai'i Republican Party, said the ads were an attempt to obscure the facts.

"Once again, our opponents are attempting to mislead the public and rewrite history, this time by rewriting headlines," he said.

Brickwood Galuteria, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said yesterday that the ads, paid for by Friends of Malama, will no longer air because of the complaints.

However, he added that the campaign still hopes to have public dialogue on the war, education and affordable housing.

"We certainly would like the opportunity to debate the lieutenant governor on those three issues," he said.