Clinton goes for swing-state soft touch

When Hillary Clinton’s first general election ads start hitting the airwaves in eight battleground states on Thursday, they won’t all be torching Donald Trump.

In addition to the anti-Trump ad that the campaign released last week, the former secretary of state’s team will plaster Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia airwaves with two soft biographical spots, one lasting sixty seconds and another thirty.

The one-minute spot — “Always” — traces Clinton’s life working for children, opening with 1950 footage of her as a small child and segueing to describing her post-law school job with the Children’s Defense Fund, a regular part of her stump speech at times during her campaign, before touching on her work in Arkansas and as First Lady to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It then pivots to her time as secretary of state before turning to the present campaign.

“Through the years there have been challenges, setbacks,” says the narrator. “But for Hillary, one thing’s never changed. Helping children has been a cause of her life, and it always will be."

View Hillary Clinton ad: 'Quiet Moments' A new ad released by Hillary Clinton's campaign on Thursday.

The shorter clip — “Quiet Moments” — also centers on her efforts to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program, focusing on her work with Republicans while showing old footage.

“It’s in the quiet moments when you see why she does this,” intones the narrator. “For Hillary, it’s always been about kids."

Clinton’s ad onslaught joins a similar one from her largest supportive super PAC, Priorities USA Action, which has for weeks hit swing state airwaves with its own trio of spots ripping at Trump. The GOP standard-bearer and his supporters have yet to respond aside from one nationwide cable news buy from a super PAC.

