New Obama TV ad in Nevada focuses on veterans

In a new TV ad airing in Nevada starting Wednesday, President Barack Obama promotes U.S. military successes under his leadership and programs to help veterans find jobs and get educated when they return home.

“The sacrifices that our troops have made have been incredible,” Obama says in the ad filled with contrasting images of nighttime combat followed by warm homecomings.

The president mentions his biggest victory so far, the Navy Seals’ killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

“It’s because of what they’ve done that we’ve been able to go after al-Qaida and kill bin Laden,” Obama says of U.S. forces.

The new Obama ad in Nevada is part of a rotating series of campaign commercials the president is airing in the battleground state, which could decide whether the Democrat wins a second term in the 2012 election.

Obama won the Silver State four years ago, but Nevada has suffered the highest unemployment rate in the nation as well as the worst home foreclosure crisis. And so the president must make the case that his efforts are working to lift the sinking economy that he inherited when he took office.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, won the Feb. 4 Republican presidential caucuses in Nevada and has a strong following in the swing state as well.

Helping Romney, the GOP-aligned SuperPAC, Crossroads GPS, and other anti-Obama Republican groups have been running a series of TV ads in Nevada attacking Obama’s record.

Crossroads GPS in mid-May launched an $8 million anti-Obama ad in 10 battleground states, including Nevada.

The president’s new ad appeals to the strong military presence in Nevada as well as the state’s tens of thousands of veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and older wars.

In the ad, Obama said that the U.S. has a duty to care for the nation’s war fighters when they return home facing challenges. He has approved tax credits for businesses that hire veterans and expanded education benefits for veterans.

“When they come home, we have a sacred trust to make sure that we are doing everything we can to heal all of their wounds, to find a job, and get the education that they need, giving them the opportunities that they deserve,” the president says as images play of returning soldiers, a woman graduating and Obama shaking veterans’ hands.

“It’s not enough just to make a speech about how much we value veterans,” the president says. “It’s not enough just to remember them on Memorial Day.”

The last ad image shows Obama walking off Marine One, the name of the helicopter he uses to travel short distances.