Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack has hit the television airwaves, for the first time this election season, to make his case for another term in Congress.

A new advertisement that includes scenes of Cravaack with his wife and children against a woodsy backdrop will begin airing today in the Duluth television market, which covers most of northeastern Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin.

It is the first candidate-sponsored ad for Cravaack in the Eighth Congressional District race in northern Minnesota, where outside groups have already spent more than half a million dollars on attack ads targeting either Cravaack or his opponent, former DFL congressman Rick Nolan. Ben Golnik, a Cravaack campaign adviser, said Cravaack's commercial represents a "significant five-figure buy" in the Duluth market, which covers the Democratic core of the Eighth District. The ad will air on all Duluth television stations and cable. "Now I'm a father," Cravaack says in the ad. "And I want all our children to have the same opportunities we did growing up to achieve their American Dream. Washington's not making it easy, but my dad taught me the things worth fighting for rarely are." The first-term congressman has faced criticism from national and state Democrats who question his commitment to Minnesota because his wife and two sons relocated to New Hampshire last year after his wife received a job promotion that necessitated a move to the East Coast. The commercial scenes were shot in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District, not New Hampshire, Golnik said. Cravaack's ad doesn't mention Nolan, who released his first ad earlier this month. Here's a link to Cravaack's ad: http://youtu.be/t6u7v2Io5Sc