Related articles:

Obama and McCain on the hunt for vice presidential candidatesObama, McCain camps spar over Democrats' VP pickElection pits McCain vs. ObamaObama tells McCain to lay off Joe Biden's speech at the Democratic convention Obama tells McCain to lay off'Joe Biden gets it,' Obama saysObama picks Biden as running mate McCain starts defining Obama Clinton calls on her supporters to get behind Obama campaign

Other articles by Mike Glover:

McCain vows upset, emphasizes his POW, military experience McCain says pundits being fooled, promises victory McCain says the middle class would suffer if Obama prevails McCain turns irritable, sarcastic in interview Obama: Let Treasury Dept. deal with crisis

Other articles by Jim Kuhnhenn:

New Obama initiative seeks fix to finance regsObama eyes tighter controls on banks, Wall StreetUS will tread line on exec payAnalysis: Obama couldn’t let GM failAIG chairman says retention payments distasteful

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

PHOENIX — John McCain certainly won't let Barack Obama have his Democratic convention all to himself. If Obama has a story to tell voters over the next four days, McCain is already pitching a far less flattering version from afar.

In newly produced television ads and on the stump, McCain is casting Obama as untested, unprepared to lead the country, and too aloof to connect with voters. If he has an audience in mind, it's likely to be working-class voters, disaffected Democrats and independent-minded white women.

McCain's weapons? Democrats themselves.

The McCain camp gleefully raked through the Democratic primary archives to find Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton archly questioning Obama's forthrightness. Clinton's comments ended up featured in a new ad produced by the McCain campaign.

On Saturday, swiftly pivoting off Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, McCain aides created an ad in which Biden questions Obama's readiness to become chief executive. The clip was from a Democratic primary debate when not many of the candidates had kind things to say about each other.

It's unclear whether any of the ads have aired yet. Evan Tracey, a media analyst who tracks ad placements, said Sunday there still was "no sign" of either ad appearing in television markets.

McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said the Clinton ad would air "in key states, markets where Hillary Clinton performed well, and Denver."

Still, whether as ads or elaborate news releases, the McCain videos are seeking to intrude on Obama's week.

"The power to this message is that you're using the Democrats' own words," said Republican strategist Scott Reed, who ran Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign and is close to the McCain camp. "The McCain guys have successfully used the rapid response to set the terms of the debate on the eve of the Democrats' convention."

But Reed believes it's a message the McCain camp will ride all the way to the November election.

In the newest commercial, McCain uses clips from a February interview Clinton gave Politico.com and WJLA Channel 7 in Washington remarking that "you never hear specifics" from Obama on issues, that "we still don't have a lot of answers about Senator Obama" and his relationship with a now-convicted Chicago real estate developer, and that "Senator Obama's campaign has become increasingly negative."

The ad is also a bit of mischief aimed at Clinton supporters who still passionately believe she should have been chosen his running mate.

Both candidates are sticking so closely to their defined messages that they are leaving little to chance. In Phoenix on Sunday, McCain and his wife waved at a gaggle of reporters as he left church, the closest thing to an interaction with the media he's had for days.

At the North Phoenix Baptist Church on Sunday, Pastor Dan Yeary aired clips of interviews McCain and Obama gave a week ago to Pastor Rick Warren. Seated with his second wife, Cindy, at his side, McCain watched himself describe his "greatest moral failure" — the failure of his first marriage.

Yeary described the exchange as a "seminal moment" in the presidential campaign. For balance, Yeary showed Democrat Barack Obama's confession in the same interview that he was too self-absorbed.

"I couldn't focus on other people," Obama said.

McCain, the hometown favorite, got a solid round of applause from the congregation, yet another odd moment in a presidential campaign where the two major rivals are growing increasingly isolated, even as voters use the convention season to begin paying attention to the campaign.

McCain was once known for his spontaneity — his bus is the "Straight Talk Express" — and he spent hours sparring with reporters in the campaign's early days.