Obama launches Nevada TV ad campaign

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launched his first general-election television ad in Nevada, a commercial that shows him talking about family values and patriotism.

The 60-second commercial is scheduled to start airing today on networks statewide, according to the campaign.

In the ad, titled "Country I Love," the Illinois senator addresses the camera in a home setting while acoustic guitar music plays.

"I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents," Obama says, as snapshots from his youth are shown. "We didn't have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up: accountability and self-reliance, love of country, working hard without making excuses, treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated."

Obama emphasizes his choice after college to "pass up Wall Street jobs" and work as a community organizer in Chicago. He says his values were also the reason he "passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who'd been neglected."

Obama closes the ad by saying, "If I have the honor of taking the oath of office as president, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love."

In addition to Nevada, seen as one of the top battleground states by both Obama and Republican rival John McCain, the ad is set to air in 17 other states, according to the campaign: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia.

McCain has also begun airing ads in Nevada as competition heats up for the November election.