New Obama ad projects economic optimism

With just over three weeks until election day, and with recent polls indicating a small but noticeable uptick in economic optimism, the Obama campaign's new ad, "Main Street", goes positive, using five brief testimonials to highlight signs of a turnaround and reassure voters that we are on the right track.

"We've gone from pulling into our parking lot, which was so depressing - there would be two or three cars in this parking lot - to our parking lot being full," explains one woman.

"We have a whole second shift that we brought in new employees, and we have a future at our plant right now," says another.

A third testimonial refers to the "President's plan" as "the right course for today's economy."

The 30 second ad invokes several central campaign themes, including a reference to helping those who "help themselves," an implicit rebuttal of Republican nominee Mitt Romney's disputed claim that President Obama removed the work requirement from welfare reform.

The auto bailout also figures obliquely into the ad, with the final testimonial, a man urging voters to "Stick with this guy, he will move us forward," voiced over an image of the president at an auto plant.

The ad will air in Iowa, Nevada, Colorado, and Virginia.