The McCain campaign rolled out ads targeted at voters in Michigan and Ohio today, focusing on job growth in the two Rust Belt states.  As one might imagine, the Michigan ad focuses on the auto industry, while Ohio’s is more general to the overall economy.

Michigan:

Michigan families depend on the auto industry. John McCain and his Congressional allies know it.

Their plan: Loans to upgrade assembly lines. Tax credits to boost sales of clean vehicles. Offshore drilling to reduce the cost of gas and spur truck sales. And financial reforms to protect your retirement.

Change is coming.

Ohio:

Ohio’s small businesses create more than half of all our jobs.

John McCain and his Congressional allies will help them create even more. With tax cuts to create jobs. Investments in renewable energy to revitalize Ohio’s manufacturing. Reforms to make health insurance affordable. And job retraining to help workers stay competitive.

Change is coming.

These are good ads, positive and optimistic, and in Michigan at least, specific. McCain’s team sent out a press release that outlined McCain’s intention to fund the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program, which was supposed to provide low-cost loans for the auto industry to retool for more efficient vehicles. It never got funded, and McCain wants to expedite that.

Ohio may be less specific, and for some reason it doesn’t include the same emphasis on domestic energy production. It talks about renewable energy, which makes sense in job creation, but the McCain campaign may be underestimating the political strength in Ohio and elsewhere of increasing domestic production of oil and natural gas. It will stoke job growth, keep American wealth inside the country, and relieve consumers of higher fuel prices. That policy works on more levels than just truck sales.

Overall, it’s a good start. They need to refine their national message better, though, and not be hesitant about making the same case in each state.