The bad news keeps on coming for John McCain’s campaign. I spotted the following item in National Journal today about McCain’s online operation. The firm 3eDC, which built McCain’s website, is apparently no longer affiliated with the campaign after a sketchy deal was exposed in U.S. News & World Report nearly two months ago.

Richard Davis had one sweet deal. The Washington lobbyist served as the $20,000-a-month CEO of Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, and–unbeknownst to McCain–Davis’s start-up company, 3eDC, also held a contract to maintain the campaign’s website infrastructure. Several weeks ago, however, after a published report linked Davis to 3eDC and revealed that the campaign owed the company $175,000, 3eDC’s contract was quietly terminated. What’s more, Davis was demoted; the campaign says he now serves as an “adviser” to the candidate.

I’m not sure if this development has anything to do with Christian Ferry’s departure as head of McCain’s eCampaign, but it certainly answers some questions about why the site changed in design shortly after being launched.