Is the new ad just released by Hillary -- which flashes imagery of Bin Laden and says that if you can't stand the heat, you should get out of the kitchen -- a positive or negative ad?

According to Hillary chief strategist Geoffrey Garin, there's nothing negative about it.

"It states the reason why Hillary Clinton is the right choice to be president now," Garin said on a conference call with reporters just now. He added that "the premise of this ad and this campaign is that we're at a moment where we need a president who's got the strength and the knowledge to take on very tough challenges."

Garin said: "To say that she is the best choice on those things, there's nothing negative about that."

Pressed on whether the "get out of the kitchen" line was a direct reference to Obama, given that the Hillary campaign alleged that Obama was "complaining" about the Philly debate, Garin said:

"We would well have used that phrase before the debate, and in my conversations, I did use it before the debate."

Worth noting: Just after the "red phone" ad appeared, former Hillary chief strategist Mark Penn argued that it was a "positive ad."

Dropping a last-minute bomb in order to sow doubts about Obama among the late-breaking undecideds -- and doing it in the guise of an ad only mentioning Hillary -- worked in Ohio and Texas. Camp Hillary is hoping that the tactic will deliver a second time.

We'll see tomorrow.

Late Update: I should add that opinions differ on whether the "red phone" ad worked -- some have argued that it didn't really affect the outcome. The point, however, is that the Hillary team thinks it worked, which obviously explains why they're trying this tactic again.

Late Late Update: Here's the audio from the call: