Among the new ads out in the presidential race is “Praising McCain,“ which features many prominent Democratic politicians heaping compliments on the Arizona senator.

As Barack Obama’s ad showing McCain espousing his voting record (crowing in 2003 that he “voted with the president 90 percent of the time”), these clips are not exactly what you would call current.

Take a look:

I don’t think this is among McCain’s best strategies. I know he’s fishing for those independent votes, and with this ad, he’s trying to protect himself from attacks from Democratic politicians who are supporting Obama.

But this strategy could backfire.

The conservatives within McCain’s party—the ones who still aren’t that he’s the nominee, the same ones he’s trying to mobilize to do the volunteer work that will make the difference in swing states—don’t exactly consider a compliment from John Kerry or Joe Biden or, especially, Hillary Clinton to be a good thing. Among his party’s faithful, who embrace their ideological battles with liberals, an ad featuring Democrats praising McCain may be just another reason that conservatives may choose to vote for him but decide not to go out and work for him.

And in that way, this ad may end up functioning in Barack Obama’s favor.