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Here's what they've come up with

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign is today announcing its first TV ad of his re-election drive. This was first revealed here five days ago.

Arnold chief strategist Matthew Dowd is holding a 1 PM media conference call.

Details and updates to follow.

UPDATE: Here is the Arnold TV spot, available online now at his web site.

Intriguingly, most of it is footage of cosmopolitan liberal Democratic San Francisco and some of it - the lunch room shots and the closing shot - looks very much like footage from Arnold's 2003 recall campaign. (I have all his 2003 campaign ads on a reel.) And is that anywhere in California in the opening?

Here is the script:

“Tomorrow” is a 30-second TV ad featuring a narrator talking about the good news in California. The governor does not speak to the camera, but is pictured at the end.

Voice Over:

“Tomorrow is going to be a little better than today for Californians …

Because we’ve pulled our state back from the brink of bankruptcy.
We’ve dramatically reduced the state’s deficit
Cut the unfair car tax …
Reformed the workers’ comp system …
And created 500,000 new jobs.”

“Governor Schwarzenegger’s leadership is making California work again.”

UPDATE: Dowd, who served as chief strategist of George W. Bush's 2004 campaign and pollster for his 2000 campaign, describes it as "a simple ad" that will "track his (Arnold's) travels" around the state. Its purpose? To highlight the economy and its improvements. Why now? "The campaign is a narrative." It will point to "improvements and achievements" of the governor's.

BUT AS REVEALED HERE LATE LAST WEEK, the advertising buy - which the campaign confirmed today is in the Sacramento, Bakersfield, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco markets also reported here - is quite small. In fact, for example, as of a couple days ago, it was to air only a few times on San Diego and Sacramento stations. One well-informed Republican source places the size of the ad buy at about $20,000, although it may be somewhat higher than that. Other sources were in the same ballpark, or lower.

I asked Dowd about this, posing the specific question of whether this is a demonstration buy or an attempt to move real numbers in the governor's direction. Here is his answer: "All the early buys are done with no expectation to move numbers. The dynamic of the campaign won't adjust until there is a choice between the governor and the Democrat. This is a way to communicate."

"Some buys will be small. Some buys will be big. Some buys will start small and end up big. Some buys will start big and end up small. The fundamentals of the campaign won't adjust until after the primary."

There you have it.

I didn't ask about why Arnold's TV ad features somewhat romantic shots of San Francisco that look appropriate for a Bank of America commercial or a San Francisco mayoral campaign. Or why the visuals have nothing to do with what the announcer is saying about jobs and so forth. Or why they would be running an ad clearly featuring footage of San Francisco in parts of the state that despise San Francisco.

If Arnold is going to win, it will be in Inland California and Southern Calfornia outside L.A., places where shots of the Bay Bridge (reconstruction held up two years after the governor questioned the bidding), cable cars, the Financial District, and the shimmering nighttime skyline of The City By The Bay reflected on the bay do not "resonate."