New McCain ad promotes free trade

John McCain is going international again, this time in a new ad supporting free trade with Colombia and other Latin American countries.

In the ad, which contains Spanish subtitles, the presumptive Republican nominee touts free trade as a way to drum up jobs at home.

The ad precedes McCain's visit to Latin America, which begins later today. The Arizona senator is expected to arrive in Colombia at about 5 p.m.

The trip is the latest in a series of international moves by McCain, who also visited Canada last month and met last Saturday with the presidents of Iraq and the Philippines in Washington.

The Arizona senator's travel and targeting of international issues have raised some eyebrows among pundits, who question whether the trips will help him when domestic concerns are seen as driving voters. A recent Los Angeles Times article, however, relying on interviews with McCain advisers, described the strategy as an attempt to frame McCain as a leader in the eyes of voters:

"So when McCain sits down with foreign leaders to talk about terrorism, the thinking goes, it helps voters envision him as commander in chief. When he travels to Colombia and Mexico, it highlights his record as a free trader and his moderation on immigration and, perhaps, garners favorable publicity in the Hispanic community back home."