New Jeb Bush TV ad stars Medal of Honor recipients

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is airing a new television ad in New Hampshire that stars four Medal of Honor recipients.

Collectively the four recipients of the military's highest honor argue that Bush is best prepared to serve as the next commander-in-chief, criticize President Obama as a leader who needed "training wheels" and suggest other contenders like businessman Donald Trump are unfit for the job.

"This is no reality show. This is serious business," says retired Marine Maj. Gen. James Livingston. "This is about the livelihood of our kids and grandkids. This commander-in-chief requires training wheels."

Livingston adds later that Bush "represents the beliefs of this country. He'll have the American people's confidence and he will be respected on the world stage."

The ad also stars retired Marine Col. Jay Vargas, retired Army Master Sgt. Leroy Petry and retired Air Force Col. Leo Thorsness. Their comments are juxtaposed against images of Bush greeting veterans and other supporters and from his recent speech at The Citadel military college in South Carolina.

The ad is designed to expand and amplify a message Bush and his team have been pushing in recent weeks: That he's a steady, sober alternative in a GOP field packed with less-experienced options.

Sixty- and 30-second versions of the ad will air over the next three weeks on broadcast stations and cable systems in the Manchester, N.H. and Boston markets. The campaign says it's spending roughly $600,000 on the buy.

Bush aired his first TV ad in New Hampshire in September in a message that needled "self-promoters" who had jumped ahead of him in polls. That ad run cost his campaign about $500,000 and lasted less than a month.

[First Jeb Bush TV ad tweaks 'self-promoters']

Bush also has reserved -- but not outright purchased -- $7.8 million in television advertisement time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in January and February. By reserving time, a campaign is able to lock in a certain ad rate in advance and get first dibs on the best time slots before other campaigns and super PACs try doing the same thing at a later point.

Out on the campaign trail, Bush is scheduled to make stops on Tuesday in Dubuque, Waterloo and Newton, Iowa, before flying Wednesday to a fundraiser in Minneapolis. He appears Thursday at the Republican Jewish Coalition meetings in Washington -- alongside other GOP contenders. Over the weekend he plans to host several of his most generous donors at a series of meetings in Miami, timed to coincide with the city's annual Art Basel festival.