(CNN) The ad above comes from Tom Perriello, a former Democratic member of Congress running for governor this year in Virginia. And it's a blueprint for Democrats -- and a possible omen for Republicans -- as to how Thursday's vote on their American Health Care Act may well play out in the campaign to come.

"Republicans are trying to do this to affordable health care," Perriello says to the camera as, behind him, a car compacter begins to do its work on an ambulance.

Perriello goes on to note that he voted for the Affordable Care Act during his time in Congress and pledges to ensure that "this" -- the ambulance being steadily flattened by the compacter -- "never happens in Virginia"

It's a very good ad. Part of that is because Perriello is a good communicator. (There's a reason he held, albeit briefly, a Republican-leaning district in the Old Dominion.) But, the bigger part of the ad's effectiveness is in the image -- an ambulance getting crushed -- married with the notion that Republicans, left to their druthers, are in the process of doing just that to Virginians' health care.

Now, it's important to note that Perriello is running this ad in the context of a Democratic primary, not a general election. (He faces off with sitting Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam on June 13.)

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