TITLE: "Steel"
LENGTH: 30 seconds
AIRING: Indiana
SCRIPT: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.: "America faces challenging times. We need a leader who'll fight for good jobs, change trade deals like NAFTA, cut taxes for middle-class families. Someone who's ready to be commander in chief from day one. That leader? Hillary Clinton.
"I've known Hillary for twenty years. She's got a spine of steel. She'll fight for our jobs, our troops, and the America we love. Strong. Seasoned. She'll always stand up for us."
Clinton: "I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved this message."
KEY IMAGES: Bayh, the junior senator from Indiana, speaks into the camera. The spot ends with a photo of him and Clinton, hands clasped aloft at a rally.
ANALYSIS: The ad is Clinton's first in Indiana, which holds its primary May 6. Recent public opinion polls in the state show her holding a lead over her better-financed rival, Barack Obama, who already has been running ads there. The spot features Bayh, a popular senator and near constant companion of Clinton during her visits to the state. Bayh considered making a presidential bid himself, and patrons at a Terre Haute cafe recently chanted "Bayh for vice" when the two made a joint appearance there.
The message is simple, addressing the economy and, more subtly, the war. The ad imparts toughness in the words of the soft-spoken Bayh. Clinton has relied on popular surrogates in some of her key contests against Obama. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland campaigned at her side in Ohio and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has been outspoken in support of her leading up to that state's April 21 primary.
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Analysis by Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn
