William Ayers will be the focus of "dubious associations" as Bill O'Reilly puts it when it comes to Barack Obama.  But a more concerning association exists between one of John McCain's lead campaign managers and the Russian underworld. 

In 2006, Davis set up a meeting between Senator John McCain and Russian metals billionaire Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland.  It should be noted that Davis' lobbying firm famously used its connections with the Senator in the past to gain approval for the merger German courier DHL and US-based Airborne Express.  The merger led to the closing of Airborne's Willmington, OH hub facility and hte resulting loss of approximately 8,000 US jobs. 

 Ostensibly in a similar move, Davis and his lobbying firm were using their close connections with Senator John McCain to demonstrate the type of access he and his lobbying firm had as Davis was courting Deripaska for furture lobbying business.  This makes pure business sense from Davis' perspective as Deripaska is set to become the richest man in the world.  It makes business sense, but it probably isn't example of "Country First."

Deripaska's loyalties to Vladamir Putin have considerably helped his business dealings in Russia.  He has known ties to Russian organized crime and is barred from entering the United States by the State Department because of the depth of those connections.  As such, McCain's tough talk towards Russian rings a bit hollow given his closest advisors significant dealings with the country's ruling business elite.

Many may remember, Doug Davenport was another McCain campaign associate who left earlier in the campaign season after having lobbying connections to the Burmese Junta.  

Barack Obama may have had coffee with a man who 40 years ago did some horrible things, but it appears Senator McCain is having stronger drinks with members of the Russian underworld right now.