In the 2008 election, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) famously forgot how many houses he owned. This cycle, it's Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson who is having trouble remembering.
"Three," Thompson said last week at a campaign event, when a reporter asked him how many houses he owned. When pressed on whether he had another one, Thompson firmly replied, "No."
Actually, there is a fourth property, as his campaign later clarified.
Daniel Bice at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Thompson has a house in his hometown of Elroy, Wis., a house in Madison and "a relatively new 10,889-square-foot home on the outskirts of the Walt Disney World Resort in Kissimmee, Fla." The fourth place is a condo off Lake Wisconsin that's assessed at more than $1.3 million. The campaign confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that Thompson had forgotten the condo.
Thompson, who previously served as governor of Wisconsin and President George W. Bush's Health and Human Services Secretary, is now worth at least $13 million. After his time in public service, he worked at the D.C.-based firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
In 2008, McCain admitted to Politico that he wasn't sure how many houses he owned, a gaffe that Democrats used to portray him as wealthy and out of touch with the struggles of most Americans. McCain, it turned out, owned eight properties.
Thompson has been very active in the real estate market over the past decade. He has bought and sold nine townhouses around Alexandria, Va.
In 2004, the Washington Post wrote, "Thompson, judging from public records we've come across, appears to have been making some pin money flipping properties in Alexandria."
Thompson is running against Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who has been leading in recent polls.
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