The US media is buzzing with speculation about the death of presidential adviser Mike Connell, who died on December 19 after his private plane crashed as it prepared to land.

Connell worked as an IT adviser to the Republican Party and played a major role in both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns.

The 45-year-old also advised John McCain in this year’s election. In 2006 he was linked to missing White House emails connected with a string of firings of US attorneys.

So the question everybody is asking is whether there could be more to this story than just a plane crash.

According to the Free Press, there was something mysterious about the 2000 and 2004 elections.

“..On the night of the 2004 election exit polls and initial vote counts showed John Kerry the clear winner of Ohio's presidential campaign. The Buckeye State's 20 electoral votes would have given Kerry the presidency.

But from then until around 2am, the flow of information mysteriously ceased. After that, the vote count shifted dramatically to George W. Bush, ultimately giving him a second term. In the end there was a 6.7 percent diversion - in Bush's favour - between highly professional, nationally funded exit polls and the final official vote count as tabulated by Blackwell and Connell,” The Free Press writes.

Since Mike Connell was IT expert in both of Bush’s presidential campaigns, there is speculation that he could have been involved in what some believe was election rigging.

A non-profit group Velvet Revolution, or “VR”, has been investigating Connell’s activities for the past two years. According to the group, “a tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr Connell’s life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove [Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush until August 2007] had threatened him and his wife, Heather”.

VR notified the US officials about the threats and insisted that Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Connell’s “not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged”.

In the past two months the IT guru, also an experienced pilot, had to cancel two of his flights because there was something wrong with the plane.

On December 19 the father of four was flying himself home from an airport in Maryland when his Piper Saratoga plane crashed near his northern Ohio home.

Now there is a concern that there may be a reason behind his death, which came at a time when election protection attorneys and others appeared to be closing in on critical irregularities and illegalities.

One of the theories is that Mike Connell posed a risk. He might one day have revealed crucial information about election fixing and the deletion of incriminating emails.

Furthermore, he was an insider who at some point in the future might have provided some embarrassing details about Bush’s administration.