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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, Mr. McCain is casting Mr. 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.

Mr. McCain's weapons? Democrats themselves.

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

On Saturday, swiftly pivoting off Mr. Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, McCain aides created an ad in which Mr. Biden questions Mr. 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Reed believes it's a message the McCain camp will ride all the way to the November election.

In the newest ad, Mr. McCain uses clips from a February interview Ms. Clinton gave Politico.com and WJLA Channel 7 in Washington remarking that “you never hear specifics” from Mr. 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 Ms. Clinton supporters who still passionately believe she should have been chosen his running mate.

An announcer states: “She won millions of votes. But isn't on his ticket. Why? For speaking the truth.”

In a statement Sunday, Clinton spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said Ms. Clinton's support for Mr. Obama is clear. “She has said repeatedly that Barack Obama and she share a commitment to changing the direction of the country, getting us out of Iraq and expanding access to health care,” Ms. Strand said. “John McCain doesn't. It's interesting how those remarks didn't make it into his ad.”

Both candidates are sticking so closely to their defined messages that they are leaving little to chance. In Phoenix on Sunday, Mr. 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 Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama gave a week ago to Pastor Rick Warren. Seated, with his second wife, Cindy, at his side, Mr. McCain watched himself describe his “greatest moral failure” — the failure of his first marriage.

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

“I couldn't focus on other people,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. McCain, the hometown favourite, 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.

Mr. 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.

Over the weekend, Mr. McCain took some time off at the family compound in northern Arizona, while a tiny group of reporters was housed miles away at hotels in Sedona. Reporters were taken to an isolated road near his retreat each morning to join a motorcade to Cottonwood, where he hopped out of his sport utility vehicle and headed into a coffee shop for his morning cup. Reporters watched from about 50 yards away.

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