Clever and impressively quick, but anchoring the clip with Hillary just doesn’t work as well as it did in McCain’s ad this morning. Her ripping on McCain is partisan noise, the same as when any senator goes after the opposition; her ripping on Obama by unfavorably (and gratuitously) comparing him to the opposing party’s nominee is withering. Plus, it plays into the irresistible storyline of how much the Clintons dislike and/or distrust Barry O. Go look at the top of Drudge right now and tell me which soundbite — the one in McCain’s ad or the one in the DNC’s — seems more sincere. Is it the one she had to say, or the one she didn’t have to say?

Exit question: Will the Dems’ attempt to rebrand McCain as a Bush clone really work? My hunch is it won’t, just because the impressions on the public left from eight years of the media smothering him in hugs for being such a mavericky Maverick aren’t that easily scrubbed. But never underestimate the power of a 28% approval rating.