The race for Virginia’s Senate seat is underway and the campaign for the Commonwealth's former governor, Tim Kaine, is picking up steam.

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After participating in a lively debate against rival George Allen, Kaine released his first TV advertisement this week.

Appearing on ABC7’s Good Morning Washington, Kaine said, "...negative ads started running against me in Nov,. and I saw an accounting that said the other side has put up 6,000 different, negative ads against me."

Kaine says his campaign decided to wait until after the 2012 Olympic Games to launch his TV advertisement.

“It’s a positive ad talking about what I did as governor and the values and ideas I want to take into the U.S. Senate,” he said.

“Our thought is that Virginians want to see something positive now about the people running for office,” Kaine added.

Kaine, who took the governor's seat 8 years after Allen left it, says he plans to keep his positive strategy up until November.

“You can draw contrast on issues but you can do it in a positive way as long as you do it fairly,” Kaine said. “Virginians are very positive can do people, even in the tough times, there’s some great Virginia lessons that, if we apply in Washington, I think we’ll solve some of the nationals problems we have.

Kaine also said he’s “troubled” by the rising unemployment rate among military veterans, but attributed part of the problem to the fact that potential employers may not know the nature of their leadership and technical skills developed during their term of service.

Recent polls put the two candidates in a dead heat, but Kaine says he’s confident that three key issues – economy, budget deficit and management – he plans to focus on will secure a win in November.