Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has steadfastly refused to even acknowledge his GOP opponent, Jay Townsend, much less take political questions at press conferences (at least not yesterday when approached by a YNN reporter), is out with his first TV ad of the campaign.

The spot, which will start airing today in multiple markets, including NYC, continues a focus Schumer has maintained for some time and laid out in his 2007 book, “Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class.”

While many Democrats are just coming to the realization that they need to hammer the economy in this mid-term election season, the veteran Brooklyn lawmaker, who took a pass in 2006 on running for governor and instead rose to become third-highest ranked senator in the upper house, has been talking about the need for his party to talk about endangered middle class for some time now.

Schumer, who enjoys a double-digit lead in the polls and is sitting on more than $23 million worth of campaign cash, has little to worry about from Townsend – a GOP political consultant who is running statewide for the first time and is unknown and vastly underfunded.

It would be helpful to Schumer, politically speaking, if he wins very big this year – although I’m not sure how he will be able to break his historic 2004 re-election record of 70 percent of the vote (against then-GOP Assemblyman Howard Mills). The senior senator has long been speculated to be gunning for Majority Leader Harry Reid’s job (assuming Reid doesn’t manage to make it back to Washington in January, that is).

Here’s the script of the ad, entitled “Family”:

“(Schumer voiceover): My parents always hoped that their kids could live the American dream. My dad was an exterminator. My mom a housewife. They struggled to send me to college. Thats why I fought so hard to help middle-class families get a fair shake. Now families making up to $160,000 a year get a $2,500 tax cut – an actual tax cut! – to send their kids to college.”

“(Man#1 ): Chuck Schumer! (Woman #1): The one New Yorkers count on. (Woman #2): To fight for the middle class. (Schumer): I’m Chuck Schumer, and I approve this message.”

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