Good Thursday noon, Fellow Seekers,

The John Edwards presidential campaign is up today with its first TV ad in Iowa. It’s a likable 60-second spot, without much substance, in which former Sen. Edwards tell people not to look to him as a hero (was there such a great danger of that?) but to look to ordinary people who struggle and work hard to pay their bills and find health insurance.

He invokes his wife’s illness, and asserts that after getting the bad news about the recurrence of her cancer, they decided that rather than fading away, they would spend their time standing up for “what it is we believe in.” He also says it’s time for the Democratic party to “show a little backbone.” Here it is:

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The ad contrasts with Edwards recent debate performances, in which he has emphasized his differences with Hillary Clinton, most recently flaying her for voting for a Senate resolution that Edwards says paves the way for a U.S. attack on Iran. (Clinton says it doesn’t do that.)

In political junkie terms, the ad is significant mostly because it is the first in Iowa for the cash-strapped Edwards campaign after his chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have aired millions worth of ads in the key first caucus state.

Edwards, who has recently run a close third in Iowa polls but a distant third in most national polls, needs a strong showing in Iowa more than Clinton and Obama do to stay in the top tier of the race. Edwards has long had an Iowa-based strategy, has spent more time there than his rivals, but has seen his poll numbers slip from first to third place. He has publicly attributed the slippage to the advertising his opponents were doing.

As the AP put it:

Asked last month while campaigning in Davenport, Iowa, about trailing Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in state and national polls, he said it was because they had spent more money on television advertising than he did.

Edwards said he’d begin running ads in Iowa soon, but that he did not think they influenced what voters do, especially in Iowa.

“I think it’s much more important to Iowa caucus-goers to see you in the flesh — see you stand before them, look them in the eye and answer their hard questions,” he said at the time.

There’s a logic problem there, of course, if Edwards really said that ads don’t influence Iowa voters, but perhaps the paraphrase is an exaggeration. Anyway, the Edwards team has been savings its limited funds for a big late push in Iowa and this feels like the opening salvo.

Spokesman Dan Leistikow wouldn’t say how much the Edwards campaign was spending, but called it “a significant, statewide buy.” It will be interesting to see if the poll numbers respond, but bear in mind that there is likely to be a lot of late movement in Iowa, and that polls are much less able to measuresupport in a caucus race.

What do you think of the ad?