Click here to watch "Broken."

It takes a "maverick" to tackle the special interests that have taken over Washington, according to John McCain's "Broken" (subscription), launched today.

"Washington's broken. John McCain knows it. We're worse off than we were four years ago," an announcer says in the ad. "Only McCain has taken on Big Tobacco, drug companies, fought corruption in both parties. He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil, make America prosper again. He's the original maverick."

The ad aims to separate McCain from an unpopular president and an ailing GOP. "The American people are looking for somebody who is independent -- somebody who does what he thinks is right and maybe not what's always in their political self-interest," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. "And that's John McCain's record." Rogers cited the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill as an example of the Arizona senator's ability to reform a "broken" Washington by working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Departing from the strategy of McCain's recent attack ads, "Broken" doesn't mention Barack Obama. It does, however, play up McCain's experience -- something he believes his Democratic rival can't match. "He's very eloquent," Rogers said of Obama. "But he has zero record of bringing people together to solve tough problems and going against his own party when it's necessary."