Allison Lundergan Grimes locked-in the Democratic nomination for Kentucky’s senate seat on Tuesday. Now the candidate is starting her media blitz in earnest.

Grimes’ campaign this week released the candidate’s first general election TV ad. Titled “A Moment” the ad does not feature the hand-shaking and flag-waving that characterizes many early campaign commercials. Instead, Grimes directly addresses voters, distancing herself from President Obama and pledging bipartisanship.

“And no matter who the president is, I won’t answer to them, I’ll only answer to you,” said Grimes.

Grimes will have a hard fight ahead of her against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican senator well-known for his fundraising and campaigning abilities. Grimes’ website announcement of the new ad shows that her campaign is taking McConnell seriously, with a Grimes spokesperson calling out McConnell directly as having “no intention of offering a plan for Kentucky’s future.”

Voters in Kentucky are in for many (many) more ads throughout the summer and fall, as both Grimes and McConnell are amassing large campaign funds. With Grimes polling competitively with McConnell, the Democratic Party and its donors are smelling blood. Grimes is receiving massive support for her campaign in the hopes that she can topple one of the most well-placed and well-funded senators in office today.

McConnell this week also won his primary race to become the Republican nominee for Kentucky’s senate seat. McConnell notched a solid win over his Tea Party-backed opponent, Matt Bevin, though the senator’s campaign did not take the challenger lightly.

With the nomination safely in-hand, McConnell’s seasoned campaign staff can now focus on Grimes and the general election. McConnell’s campaign also released a new TV ad this week, one that is altogether more bombastic than Grimes’.

Though the ad was directed toward primary voters, the ad does feature a pointed attack against Grimes. Around halfway through the ad a t-shirt depicting Grimes with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (and slyly associating her with the Reid quote “Coal makes us sick”) is shown. This demonstrates how McConnel’s campaign intends to portray Grimes to Kentuckians and is an early shot in a campaign war that is bound to get dirtier as election day approaches.

Image via Youtube