In North Carolina, as Hillary Clinton narrows a gap that most observers have thought impassable for her, both she and Barack Obama have come out with big new ads in the state.

For her ad, which was announced Wednesday morning, Clinton pulled out a big gun: Maya Angelou. Angelou's appearance in an ad targeted to North Carolina almost certainly is no coincidence -- the primary there will surely see heavy African-American voter turnout, which poses a substantial obstacle for Clinton. Here's the ad:

Meanwhile, Obama debuted two new spots on Tuesday night. The first is, visually, an ode to small-town patriotism and, in terms of message, a familiar theme about change -- it features Obama walking down a town street saying, "Here in America we live by certain values. Hard work, community, keeping your word. But today Washington's got it backwards." Here's that ad:

The second Obama ad is about the military; it features Obama saying, "As your commander in chief, my job will be to keep you safe. Part of keeping you safe is maintaining the finest military in the world, and it means caring for our troops when they come home."

There is some interesting language in the ad as well -- a narrator says, "On the Veterans Affairs Committee, Barack Obama passed measures to improve care for wounded warriors, give shelter to homeless veterans and expand mental health services for returning heroes." That left me wondering -- how exactly does just one senator pass legislation? The same phrasing appears on his campaign's Web site, which appears to attribute the work of the committee as a whole to Obama. But even by the most generous interpretation of that wording, I can't see how it's accurate -- Obama doesn't chair that committee. Here's the ad: