Top McCain Adviser Has Found Success Mixing Money, Politics

In 2006, Davis helped plan McCain's next White House run, envisioning a corporate-style campaign modeled after President Bush's 2004 bid. But by mid-2007, fundraising faltered. Inside the campaign, aides grumbled about expensive service contracts brokered by Davis, including one to a firm called 3eDC. It was hired to develop a Web site and coordinate Internet services.

Davis has confirmed that he owns a stake in 3eDC. Over several months, McCain's campaign doled out payments to the firm approaching $1 million.

The 3eDC contract initially brought objections from top advisers, who argued that it smacked of self-dealing. After the summer campaign shake-up, it appeared that payments to the firm ceased.

But 3eDC resurfaced last month, days after McCain's advisers assumed key roles at the Republican National Committee. The RNC paid the firm $20,000 in late April. Rogers said Davis did not broker the RNC deal.

Political campaigns are largely unregulated operations in which millions of dollars flow over a period of months, and some inside deals are probably inevitable, said Robert Kelner, an election lawyer who has represented the RNC.

Instances where a campaign manager hires a vendor in which he is also an investor are more unusual, he said, and the practice should raise red flags. "A campaign caught self-dealing is going to suffer public relations damage for that," Kelner said.

Research editors Alice Crites and Lucy Shackelford and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.