Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is taking his efforts up a notch, launching the first TV ad of his campaign. The biographical spot that quickly goes through Sanders’ life and describes him as an “honest leader” is meant to help introduce the senator to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. The tagline may sound a tad bit familiar though. Sanders promises “a future to believe in,” which certainly doesn’t sound very far from President Obama’s “change we can believe in.”
The campaign will spend more than $2 million broadcasting the ad over the next 10 days, according to CNN. “Thousands of Americans have come out to see Bernie speak and we’ve seen a great response to his message,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign’s manager. “This ad marks the next phase of this campaign. We’re bringing that message directly to the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire.”
Hillary Clinton, the clear frontrunner in the race, has been running ads in Iowa and New Hampshire since August. Sanders’ first ad doesn’t mention Clinton directly, yet, as the Washington Post points out, it does mention several areas in which the two differ. The ad comes a week after Sanders moved away from his standard stump speech at the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and strongly attacked Clinton, notes the New York Times. Although Sanders never talks directly to the camera, the ad shows a portion of his stump speech in which he says “people are sick and tired of establishment politics and they want real change.”
