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Obama to Launch TV Ads Thursday (VIDEO)

Updated: 10:09 p.m.

The Obama campaign is launching its first TV ads Thursday.

The campaign is premiering ads in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a knowledgeable source. Details of the buy were not given.

A version of an ad placed on YouTube by the Obama campaign takes aim at a recent ad from Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group funded by oil billionaires David and Charles Koch.

“Secretive oil billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact-checkers say are not tethered to the facts,” a narrator says as the ad begins.

It goes on to defend Obama’s record on energy and ethics, citing reports by Common Cause and the League of Women Voters and arguing that Obama has helped boost clean energy and reduce the country’s dependence on oil.

“For the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50 percent,” the ad says.

The New York Times reported earlier today that the campaign had begun purchasing time in battleground states.

The buys come just a few days before the president delivers the State of the Union address, followed by a three-day trip to Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan, which the White House announced today.

They also come as Republicans prepare for Saturday’s South Carolina presidential primary.

Watch the ad:

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