Orlando, Fla. ? Bill McBride, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, has bagged the biggest endorsement of his campaign: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.

“He really is one of the great Floridians of our time,” Bush says of McBridethe same opponent the governor has been attacking as a “reckless corporate lawyer” in ads for months.

Bush’s high praise, videotaped for an awards ceremony at McBride’s former law firm in 1999, began airing Friday across Florida. The McBride campaign has made Bush’s remarks the centerpiece of a new TV ad challenging the governor for running attack ads against McBride.

“Does Jeb Bush believe his own negative ads?” the McBride spot asks. “You be the judge.”

The Democrat’s tactic using the kind words of his opponent in a campaign-closing commercial has no precedent in modern statewide campaigns.

“It’s a brilliant piece of strategy,” says Wayne Bailey, a longtime political scientist at Stetson University and Democratic state committeeman.

“That’s really going to confuse the mass electorate, isn’t it?” Bailey says. “Bush will have to say, ‘I lied, I really didn’t mean that,’ or, ‘He’s changed.'”

McBride will air the ad in selected cities where Bush is airing an ad attacking McBride.