New York - The Democratic National Committee has moved quickly to take advantage of former White House spokesman Scott McClellan's words and turn them on probable Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

A DNC Web ad includes Mr McClellan's appearance last Thursday on the Today show, when he said the White House orchestrated a PR campaign to sell the war by making it 'sound like the threat was more urgent and more grave and gathering than it really turned out to be'.

It shows Mr McCain, in March 2002, saying that then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 'presents a clear and present danger to the United States of America with his continued pursuit to acquire weapons of mass destruction'.

The video closes with a screen showing an unflattering photo of Mr McCain and the words 'Marching in lockstep the whole way. John McCain: The Wrong Choice for America's Future'.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's rules committee began meeting yesterday to search for a compromise to seat disputed delegations from Michigan and Florida at its convention in August and clear the way for a quick end to the marathon struggle for its presidential nomination between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

NYT