Key thing to remember here is that it's all well and good to do plenty of ab-focused excercises, but you'll have nothing to show for it if your abs are still covered in a blanket of fat. You become disheartened, slack off the ab work - and you're back where you started, love handles and all.
As mentioned countless times before here, cardio (running, cycling, swimming and all that) is essential if you want to shift the flab off your stomach. No, you can't reduce fat in specific areas only, I'm afraid. Cardio, and the eventual speeding up of your metabolism through focused excercise and healthy eating, shifts the fat off all around the body. It may seem like a slow, tedious process if you've got an overhang or any other areas you're aren't particularly proud of, but trust me, keep at it and it will go.
Oh, one more thing. When doing cardio work, do it to make yourself sweat. A lot. Staying dry through it does your body no favours!