BY WESLEY P. HESTER

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign has released its first general election TV ad, promising immediate and sweeping changes if the former Massachusetts governor is elected.

In the 30-second ad titled “Day One” — which will reportedly air in Virginia and other key swing states Ohio, North Carolina and Iowa – Romney pledges to approve the Keystone pipeline, “creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked.” 

He also pledges to introduce tax cuts and reforms “that reward job creators, not punish them,” and begin replacing Obama’s landmark health care overhaul with “common-sense health care reform.”

The narrator concludes: “That’s what a Romney Presidency will be like.” The campaign released an identical ad in Spanish called “Dia Uno.”

Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith responded that “Mitt Romney’s empty promises are nothing new,” saying that he’d fallen short of gubernatorial campaign promises to cut spending, reduce debt and create jobs.

She said that “the one thing he did accomplish — implementing health care reform that was a model for federal reform — is now something he would undo on day one of his presidency.”

Based on data from TV stations and media buyers, The Associated Press reported that the campaign was spending about $1.3 million to air the ad in four states.  

Romney recently called Obama’s first ad, which attacks Romney’s career at Bain Capital, “character assassination,”  and calls his “positive” by comparison.