The John Kerry for President campaign unveiled two new television ads this week and will spend a record $25 million to run those ads for voters in 19 states, including Colorado -- a state typically written off as Republican.

The fact that the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate will spend $1 million in Colorado means his campaign thinks the state is competitive, political analysts say.

"The most recent polling shows Kerry only behind by five points to the president in Colorado, which is clearly a leaning-Republican state. So I think the Kerry people certainly feel they have a chance to spend a little bit of money early to see if they can't move the meter a little bit in Kerry's favor and make Colorado a battleground state," said 7NEWS political consultant Steve Welchert.

The major television ad campaign hits Colorado airwaves Tuesday.

In one 60-second ad, Kerry starts off with, "I was born in at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Colorado."

Campaign officials say they ads define Kerry and his plans, as he comes under attack in ads aired by President George W. Bush's campaign.

One of the ads, "Heart," features two Vietnam veterans, wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and daughter Vanessa Kerry. It notes that Navy veteran Kerry was born at the Aurora hospital while his father served as an Army Air Corps pilot, that he graduated from Yale and that he served as a county prosecutor and U.S. senator.

The other ad, "Lifetime," focuses on the service in Vietnam that won Kerry three Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze stars.

The ads will also be broadcast nationally on cable news networks.

Kerry's $25 million ad campaign is the largest single advertising buy ever in a presidential campaign.

After the Kerry campaign bought advertising time in Colorado, the Bush campaign did too, and those ads will air on Wednesday.

Contrast that to the presidential race of 2000, when neither Bush nor Vice President Al Gore bought TV time in Colorado.

In fact, it's been more than a decade since a presidential race played out on TV sets in Colorado, when Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot all had bought advertising time in 1992.

Bush won Colorado in 2000, former GOP Sen. Bob Dole won in 1996 and Democrat Bill Clinton won in 1992.

"This record purchase demonstrates that the Kerry campaign intends to compete throughout the nation," campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said. "John Kerry is running a wholly positive ad campaign based on his record."

Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd ridiculed the ads, saying Kerry chose not to focus on his voting record in the Senate.

"I don't think the problem is that people haven't been introduced to Sen. Kerry," he said. "I think the problem is they have been introduced to him ... and they find troubling the kind of leader he is."

Kerry campaign media strategist Tad Devine said the ads were in response to negative Bush campaign advertising.

"That is precisely why we're providing information about John Kerry. As people get to know him, any misinformation or doubts people have about him evaporates," Devine said. "That's the single best way of dealing with any issues the Bush campaign throws against him."

Denver-based pollster Floyd Ciruli said the biographical ads were made in answer to criticism from Kerry supporters that the Democrat hasn't effectively defined himself to voters. He said the race was close and anything was possible when it came to a possible Kerry victory.

"I think that what's really going on is that Democrats are probing for weakness in Bush territory," Ciruli said.