Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders just dropped his latest campaign ad on the web, outlining three of his signature issues: sweeping reforms of the nation's financial sector, universal single-payer health care and free higher education for everyone.

At the same time, however, the polished, 30-second ad hits Sanders' rival, front-runner Hillary Clinton, on the street where he says she lives: Wall Street.

The ad opens with Sanders sitting at a table in a blazer and open-necked shirt, then shifts to images of a big-city skyline and simple graphics explaining the plan, as he continues the narration.

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"There are two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street," Sanders says. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and then tell them what to do. My plan: Break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share."

Taxing Wall Street, cutting too-big-to-fail banks down to size and implementing tough new regulations, he says, will fund a national overhaul of health care subsidize college tuition.

"Will they like me? No," Sanders says. "Will they begin to play by the rules when I am president? You better believe it."

While there's not much new in the ad -- anger at Wall Street is, arguably, the driving force behind Sanders' surging campaign -- it underscores Clinton's close ties to the financial sector. And although it's not a direct attack, the ad also tap-dances along the red line Sanders drew for himself when, shortly after launching his campaign, he vowed not to go negative.



At the same time, the ad is clearly an escalation, reflecting the fact that the race between Sanders, once a distant also-ran, and Clinton, long believed to be the Democrats' inevitable choice, is tightening. Recent polls show Sanders gaining ground on Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire, two critical early primary states.