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Democrat Barack Obama fired the biggest media salvo of his campaign Wednesday, paying millions of dollars to tell a national television audience that he can restore the American Dream.
   
The 30-minute advertisement aired simultaneously on three of the biggest networks, CBS, NBC and Fox, and portrayed Obama as a president in waiting, while seeking to bury his Republican rival John McCain.
   
Experts estimated the cost of the ad, which aired at 8:00 pm on the east coast and 7:00 pm in the central zone, right before a hotly anticipated World Series baseball game, at between three and five million dollars.
   
The slickly produced package featured ordinary families struggling to make ends meet and Obama's promise to resurrect the tattered economy for middle America.
   
Filmed in a presidential-style office, Obama told viewers the election on Tuesday will be "a defining moment, the chance for our leaders to meet the demands of these challenging times and keep faith with our people."
   
"We've seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history -- and on American lives," Obama said.
   
"But everywhere I go, despite the economic crisis and war and uncertainty about tomorrow, I still see optimism. And hope. And strength."
   
McCain, meanwhile, mocked Obama's spectacularly well-funded media campaign and sharpened his character attacks, with a focus on Obama's past links to a former extreme leftist activist, Bill Ayers.