Click here to watch "Unethical."

In what is becoming a pattern, John McCain has released a TV spot without announcing it to the media. The campaign's latest ad, "Unethical" (subscription), which the Politico's Ben Smith posted about this morning, hasn't officially been released to the press yet. But, according to advertising analyst Evan Tracey, it started running in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday night.

This is quite a change from what the McCain camp has done in the past -- inundate the media with press releases about both TV and online ads, without too much focus on where, if at all, the ads would run. "Unethical" is the second spot in the past week leaked online before the campaign sent out an official release on it. The other was "Hypo" (subscription), which was circulating online for nearly a day before the camp sent anything out about it.

So, what do these two ads have in common? They're both critical of Barack Obama, but then again, so are all of the ads coming from both McCain and the Republican National Committee these days. "Unethical," which is co-sponsored by the RNC, continues to hammer Obama for his Chicago connections, just as the joint spot "Ambition" (subscription) and the RNC's "Chicago Way" (subscription) did last week.

McCain may be trying to reach voters without the press criticizing him for his campaign's negative tone. Maybe he is following the example of the Obama camp, which has never regularly released ads per press releases. In any case, the campaign has clearly revised its ad strategy, with hopes that the tide will turn between now and Nov. 4.