BY WESLEY P. HESTER

Just two days after kicking off his re-election campaign in Richmond, President Barack Obama is up with a TV ad in Virginia and several other battleground states.

The positive one-minute ad, titled “Go,” stresses the auto industry’s recovery, Osama bin Laden’s death, troops’ return from Iraq and job creation.

It also echoes Obama’s stump speeches here and in Ohio Saturday, casting the president as a warrior for the middle class.

“We’re not there yet. It’s still too hard for too many. But we’re coming back, because America’s greatness comes from a strong middle class. Because you don’t quit, and neither does he,” the ad concludes.

Republicans were quick to attack the ad.

“Americans will hear a lot from President Obama in the coming months, but what they won’t hear from him is the fact that his policies have wreaked havoc on the middle class,” said Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign.

“After a doubling of gas prices, declining incomes, millions of foreclosures, and record levels of unemployment, Americans know they’re not better off than they were four years ago. Mitt Romney’s pro-growth agenda will get America back on track and stop the middle-class squeeze of the Obama economy,” she added.

In addition to Virginia, the ad will air Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Nevada.

See the ad below: