RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - "Tell President Obama: Stop the spending," screams an ad running during the broadcast of NBC's "Today" show in central Virginia. At a break during ABC's "The View," Mitt Romney is praised in a different spot for his "strong leadership."

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In Tampa, Fla., a commercial in the middle of "Dateline NBC" shows a woman fretting about the national debt under President Barack Obama and saying: "He spent like our country's credit card had no limit." In an ad seen during evening newscasts, the Obama campaign trashes Romney for "the worst economic record in the country" when he was governor of Massachusetts.

The political pitches are coming early and often in Virginia, Florida and other hotly contested states that are expected to determine the outcome of the White House contest. So far they're mostly jammed around local newscasts and current affairs shows along with an occasional appearance on shows like "The Price is Right" on CBS and ABC's "General Hospital."

At this stage in the campaign, both Republicans and Democrats are focusing the bulk of their advertising on selling their campaign message to a select group of people - those who pay close attention to the news, seek to stay informed and influence those around them.

"They are trying to get opinion leaders, early donors and the press to focus on certain issues or events," says Joe Mercurio, a New York-based political media buyer.

This was the finding when an Associated Press reporter recently spent several hours watching television in Richmond and Tampa, two population hubs in states that have emerged as pivotal to the election prospects for Obama and Romney. Obama carried Virginia and Florida over Republican John McCain in 2008 but is fighting for a repeat this time.

Both states and both media markets are awash in TV ads in a crush noteworthy for its negativity, early start and involvement of outside groups that are likely to spend more on commercials than both the Obama and Romney campaigns.

To be sure, both sides dramatically will expand their advertising in the coming months. They'll try to target their messages to older people by running TV ads during daytime programming, and to young voters by focusing on late-night shows.

But for now, their target is those who tend to set the agenda in communities, as well as the most prized voters.

As Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of Kantar Media-Campaign Media Analysis Group, put it: "News programming is still a reliable place to find undecideds."