His campaign has been whittled down to the bare-bones and sometimes he flies commercial instead of charter airplanes. But John McCain is laying out some cash to blanket New Hampshire with radio and TV ads this weekend in an effort to grab support in the early voting state.

McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis said the ads would cover the entire state for at least the next couple of weeks.

“This is the next step in an effective campaign to start locking in voters and driving a message that seems to be resonating out there,” said Davis, who cited a poll showing that McCain was getting closer to top Republican rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney in New Hampshire.

The McCain campaign, which was forced to restructure and scale back after poor fund-raising performance in the first half of the year, refused to say how much the ads would cost but said they had enough money to pay for them.

The three ads focus heavily on McCain’s military background and war-hero status. Two include an excerpt of the former Navy pilot being interviewed while prisoner of war in Hanoi in 1967.

The campaign said they will help highlight McCain’s experience and ability to lead the country.

The Arizona senator began the year as one of the Republican front-runners but has lost support from Americans in part because of he supports President George W. Bush’s increasingly unpopular strategy in Iraq.

– Photo credit: Brian Snyder