Official Net Worth: McCain $36.4 Million, Obama $799,000

One of the clumsy arguments that the McCain camp tried to make today in hopes of slowing down the media freight train over not knowing how many homes he and his wife, Cindy, own was that Barack Obama (D) is also a rich guy who lives in a mansion himself, just like McCain. I believe the term they used was "a frickin' mansion."

Well, there's just one problem with that argument. These guys aren't even in the same class.

Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation did an analysis of the net worth of each of the 535 members of Congress based on their personal financial disclosure.

Guess which one is worth about $36 million and which one is worth $799,000?

According to my trusty calculator, that means McCain's net worth is more than 45 times greater than Obama's.

So much for that argument...

Mark Nickolas is the Managing Editor of Political Base, and this story was from his original post, "Official Net Worth: McCain $36.4 Million, Obama $799,000"

Follow Mark Nickolas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mnickolas

Comments

[JimR]

I just saw an interview Katie Couric did with John McCain. She asked him about the homes thing, and he played the POW card AGAIN! "Well, for many years, I didn't have a kitchen table." Shameless.

[chf2go]

I think there needs to be a concerted effort on the Arugula growers of America to revolt!

Whats wrong with eating a leafy green that tastes good? Are the Republicans saying that their lower middle class base only eats iceberg lettuce?

Arugula is more 'elitist' than wearing $520 shoes? I don't think so my friends.

[Bitsko]

Thanks for the link to the Sunlight Foundation. I found out some pretty interesting things about my state and local reps. I was shocked, though, to find out the senior Senator for my State, Charles Schumer (who I assumed was rich as Croesus) is worth nary more than a pittance, while unsurprisingly Hillary Clinton is richer than all of my ancestors put together, and then some. I am definitively voting for Sen. Schumer's reelection, while gladly voting for Sen. Clinton's next primary opponent.

[elizaW]

Interesting thing about you liberals. You all liked the Clintons when they weren't so rich. Once they far surpassed most of you in their earnings you needed to take them down. Same will happen with Obama. Right now he doesn't threaten you but when he starts raking in the big bucks you'll turn on him too.

[phae100]

Mac's 7 Houses + "Nation of Whiners" = Obama's "Bitter" X 1000

[optech007]

McCain is worth $36.4 million, his homes are worth about $14 million so his homes cost about 38% of his net worth.

Obama is worth $799,000, his house in Chicago is worth about $1.6 million so his house cost about twice his net worth.

So why isn't anybody criticizing Obama for living beyond his means?

[nomobull]

you are ridiculous. what is your net worth compared to your house value.

[psychmaj323]

LOL, I taken you've never bought a house. The average person doesn't make an amount that exceed the retail value of a house. So, he's actually not living beyond his means.

[tangerinesong]

Because 007,

The most glaring revenue aspect of Obama's career has been conveniently misconstrued by our author here Mr. Nikolas.

Random House forwarded a $1.9 million advance against royalties to the Obama’s for three books including a children’s book.

I support Obama but we don’t need outright fiction here that can be summarily dismissed so easily. If it's not fiction then I would await Mr. Nikolas' explanation on where the balance of $1.2 million has gone?


TS

[PumaAnn]

So? He married a very rich woman.

I tell you, this type of approach won't work with most of us.

What's wrong with rich?

[brendanm]

I don't think you represent a rational voter, one who might care whether the candidate attacking his opponent as an "elitist" is in fact so rich that he can't keep track of how many mansions and luxury homes he owns.

[eXcommunicate]

Nothing. The fact is the McCain campaign is lying yet again about Obama. Secondly, the wealth of the McCains is not the primary issue - it merely reinforces the perception that they are out of touch completely with the rest of middle America because of McCain's gaffe after gaffe on economic issues.

[UCFJayBird]

nobody faults the McCain's for being rich. But when you try and say you're more in touch with the average American, or paint your opponent as an elitist who doesn't understand the common man's struggles, you open yourself up for examination.

McCain acts like he's an average guy, but he's worth 36 mil. He owns 7-10 homes. He doesn't know what car he drove last year. He didn't know the price of gas. He accuses his opponent of being a celebrity, when his opponent has never been on anything more than a guest spot on SNL, while McCain has appeared in TV shows, movies, and hosted SNL back in 2002.

Being rich is not a crime. In fact it's a great thing. I'm happy for McCain's wealth. I would also love to marry into a beer fortune and live on easy street. The difference is McCain accuses his opponent of being out of touch with the average american and being an elitist, when he himself is. That's hypocritical, and that's nothing something people like to see in their President.

[surfcitysteven]

Bingo Buddy!

[Bitsko]

You obviously have never cracked open a book on how the rich have been exploiting everyone else for a long long time. More than a few of these books have been written by conservatives, like Kevin Phillips, whose "Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich" (2002) is a very good place to start.

[CalexenderJ]

No no no, Obama eats Arugula and that therefore somehow makes him stinking rich.

[TroubleNYC]

By John McCain's standards Obama is poor as dirt.

[nananance]

Just $799,000? Perhaps it's because he bought a $1.65 million home and Mrs. Obama said in April that they just managed to pay back their student loans.
If having money disqualified one from being president, we wouldn't have had FDR or JFK but we would have had Richard Nixon.

[Yasir]

Even that net won’t buy a pickle in the day of reckoning.

[SensibleAmerican]

Salon.com: Presidential Candidates’ Net Worth
(h/t Salon.com and Money magazine who provide the net worth calculations)

Candidate
Net Worth

Mitt and Ann Romney $202 million
John and Elizabeth Edwards $54.7 million
Rudy Giuliani $52.2 million
John and Cindy McCain $40.4 million
Hillary and Bill Clinton $34.9 million

4/4/08 Update: The Clintons released their tax returns showing that they had earned $109 million since they left the White House.

Fred Thompson $8.1 million
Barack and Michelle Obama $1.3 million

[SensibleAmerican]

John McCain (R-Ariz) - 2006
Year: 20072006120052004
Senate, House and Executive branch rules require the disclosure of items belonging to the filer’s spouse and/or dependent children. When present, those items are displayed on this page and are included in all calculations throughout this section.

Full report
View All Years Net Worth: From $27,817,187 to $45,045,011
Ranks 8th among all members
of the Senate

Assets: 139 totaling $33,632,190 to $49,435,021

Liabilities: 11 totaling $4,390,010 to $5,815,003

Transactions: 98 totaling $14,262,129 to $22,805,008

Agreements: 3

Compensation: 0

Income: 3 totaling $136,886

Positions Held: 8

Travel: 0

Gifts: 2 totaling $8,850

Honoraria: 1 totaling $16,500

If you compare the list of "transactions" to the total Net worth, not only is the chunk of wealth Cindy McCain's but McCain himself comes across as a prudent/smart investor!!!

[stabill]

Barack Hussein Obama
Home/RE $ 1,900,000
Net Worth $ 1,300,000
RE/NW 146.2%

John Sidney McCain III
Home/RE $ 4,900,000
Net Worth $40,400,000
RE/NW 12.1%

One of the better indicators of a man’s view of life is how he invests his money, an indication of what he feels is important and how he wants to be viewed in the community in which he lives.
Noting the values above taken from CNN Money.com, who is the more astute with his real estate investments? Who is topsy-turvy to his personal net worth—upside down with liabilities?
Service to country has often been taken as a path to wealth. That’s nothing new. Presidents and Vice Presidents of late have entered office, certainly not as paupers, to springboard to plateaus of wealth that the average citizen can only imagine.
Sadly, the originators’ vision of citizen statesmen is long since gone but the image of one trying to serve versus one self-aggrandizing is in the math.

[SethBLiNK]

If you want to judge Senator Obama's ability to manage money, look at the campaign he ran and is running. The value of his home is appropriate for the area he lives, his income, his wealth and the importance of a home to a family with young children.

To compare the ratio of the value of his home to his net worth to that of John McCain, a man 25 years his senior is ludicrous. Unless there is some national equivalent of marrying up, I'm not sure what financial skills McCain would bring to the job.

[Avembe]

AGAIN and again here's my point
The REPUBLICANS brought the debt down to
10 000 000 000 000 000 000 dollars
Mc CAIN is a republican
Do the link guyz!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UnknownSoldier]

LOL, that's hilarious.


They did a heck of job bringing the Debt Down to 10 Trillion dollars from that Massive 5 Trillion dollars it was 8 years ago

[Gidster]

Republican math....Its like new math, but wrong.

[frustratedinohio]

They're both worth a lot more than I am. Which brings me to this question. Suppose Obama doesn't win. What happens to the $500,000,000 that his campaign has brought in or what's left of it? Does it go to the DNC? Does he keep it for future campaigns? What if he never runs for office again?

[rosal]

The same thing that is going to happen to McMillionaire's donations when he loses.

[lissak]

It's not that Mac is so rich that matters. The Kennedy brothers were/are rich, but they were taught to care about the plight of others. Mac doesn't think anyone deserves a hand.