McCain hits the airwaves

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will begin airing his first TV spots of the 2008 presidential cycle, his campaign announced Thursday.

{mosads}Two spots include footage from McCain’s interview as an injured prisoner of war during the Vietnam War and highlight the senator’s leadership and courage.

“One man sacrificed for his country. One man opposed a flawed strategy in Iraq. One man had the courage to call for change. One man didn’t play politics with the truth. One man stands up to the special interests,” an announcer says on the 60-second ad.

One of McCain’s senior advisers, Mark McKinnon, told reporters that the campaign had decided to put an emphasis on the senator’s experience in Vietnam.

“It occurred to us that, while a lot of us talk and think about it a lot, we’ve made a lot of assumptions about the fact that voters know the story, when in fact they really don’t,” McKinnon said. “So we realized early on that part of the campaign needed to tell that story.”