PHOENIX – If you think you've heard this line of attack before, there's a reason.

Republican John McCain's latest TV spot is playing off Hillary Rodham Clinton's best-known ad against Barack Obama to heighten any concerns that Obama isn't ready to take a 3 a.m. phone call that could signal a crisis demanding judgment and experience.

The McCain ad debuted Tuesday, just hours before Clinton was to address the Democratic National Convention in Denver. While she was expected to repeat her post-primary support for Obama's candidacy in an effort to bring her supporters to his side, McCain's campaign didn't want voters to forget that she had once considered McCain to be more experienced.

Opening with a scene lifted from Clinton's old ad, the McCain spot then switches to scenes of war, missiles and hooded gunmen as an announcer says: “Uncertainty. Dangerous aggression. Rogue nations. Radicalism.” Clinton herself is shown saying: “I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”

The announcer adds: “Hillary's right. John McCain for president.”

The 30-second spot was running in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin as well as in Denver.

McCain ads using Clinton's words against Obama drew the New York senator's ire on Monday. She told delegates from her state, “I'm Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Tuesday that Clinton laid the groundwork for making the case that Obama, a first-term Illinois senator, wasn't ready to lead the nation. McCain will spend much of the fall campaign fleshing out that argument, Bounds said.

Clinton's commercial, which aired as she struggled to stop Obama's march to the nomination, was designed to reinforce the message that her years as first lady and in the Senate gave her the experience that's needed to govern in a troubled world. The ad was stark and designed to be frightening, using the image of children asleep in their beds and a telephone ringing in the middle of the night.

“It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep,” the announcer said. “Who do you want answering the phone?” In answer to that question, the ad ended with a shot of Clinton at work.

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