A Big Close

The Obama campaign has just announced something I can’t recall seeing at the close of a campaign: a two-minute ad (you can see it here), which it says will be running in “key states” starting tomorrow. It’s unusual in part because few campaigns find themselves having the resources for two-minute spots at the end of a long and expensive fight. But the tone–specific and serious–also represents a signal to voters of the political terrain that Obama intends to occupy in the final 10 days of this race. It will be interesting to see if the McCain campaign responds in kind.