Click here to watch "Country I Love."

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is up with his first TV ad of the general election today. The spot, "Country I Love," is a reintroduction to the candidate after the long primary campaign. It focuses on patriotism and seeks to strike back at charges of elitism by painting him as a regular, hard-working American with traditional values.

The spot begins by discussing Obama's family and upbringing, being "raised by a single mom and my grandparents." Against a background of soothing guitar music, the Illinois senator stresses that they were not wealthy, but "they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland," including "self-reliance" and "love of country."

Obama portrays himself as a self-made man, emphasizing that he worked his way through college and that, when he had the opportunity to go to Wall Street to make money, he opted instead to move to Chicago to help "neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed." He goes on to discuss his legislative career in Illinois and Washington and emphasizes how he helped hard-working people: "I 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 concludes by stressing his patriotism, which has been called into question by some critics. The shot includes his American flag lapel pin and ends with a vow: "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."

As revealing as the ad's message is its 18-state buy: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia.

The targeting of Alaska, Indiana, Montana and North Dakota, fairly reliable Republican states, might suggest an air of confidence from the Obama camp, or an intention to make John McCain spend time and, more importantly, precious resources shoring up support in red states.