During the 2008 Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton ran an ad which sought to diminish her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama, in the eyes of the voters.

Building upon Obama's lack of experience in national security affairs, and what the potential cost would be should Obama falter at a critical moment, Clinton's ad sought to make the question personal, setting a scene that could be any home in suburban America at night.

"It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing. Somethings happening in the world." The listener was then challenged to decide who was best to answer the call, concluding that the best choice would be someone already "tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world."

It's 3 a.m., the narrator asks, "Who do you want answering the phone?"

The voters chose Obama over Clinton.

But this did not stop the Clinton camp from reviving the "3 a.m., it's a dangerous world" theme in an ad that ran eight years later, when Hillary faced off against Donald Trump for the presidency.

"The world is a dangerous place," a narrator says, as the viewers are treated to an image of the White House at 3 a.m. "At any hour, our president could be called on to act calmly, decisively, intelligently."