Obama ads take a more negative tone

NEW YORK, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, has begun a steady attack on his likely Republican rival in a targeted campaign, a strategist says.

The series of commercials that portray Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as being out of touch with the economic hardships facing the middle class will air in states considered key in the general election in November, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The negative ads are running on local television stations, while more positive ads are airing during prime-time Summer Olympics coverage, a media strategist told the Times.

"If you can go quietly negative, that's what he's done; I think the perception is that he's still running the positive campaign," said Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence, a New York company that monitors political advertising. "It's a pretty smart, high-low, good cop/bad cop strategy."

On Sunday alone, Sen. Obama's campaign spent almost $400,000 to run two spots more than 600 times, the Campaign Media Analysis Group said. Nearly 85 percent of McCain's 650 spots that day attacked the Illinois senator.

The group said Obama spent $48 million on ads during the last two months, while McCain laid out $34 million and the Republican National Committee spent $3 million.