Obama: Pathetic!
Compared to the average American, Obama is very wealthy. Compared to the other presidential candidates, he’s an indigent. His current salary is $165,200 (he earned $60,000 as a state senator). His wife, Michelle, has brought home the bacon—before she resigned in May 2007, $317,000 a year as the vice-president for community affairs at the University of Chicago hospitals. Like many of his candidate peers, Obama made some extra cash from his books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. For Dreams, which didn’t become hugely popular until Obama did, he collected a $370,000 advance; in 2006, he pulled down $147,490 in royalties. In 2005 Obama signed a three-book deal with Random House, taking a $1.9 million advance. The first book was Audacity, and he still owes another nonfiction title and a children’s book. Obama has a hobolike net worth of $1.3 million.
McCain: Cashing Government Checks
McCain’s latest financial disclosure statement covers the year 2006. That year, he earned $56,496 from his Naval Pension and his Senate salary was $165,200. Book royalties in the amount of $80,390 were donated to charity, as were honorariums in the amount of $16,500. He has less than $50,000 in a Wachovia checking account. Most of McCain’s money comes from his wife, who does not have to disclose her financial records.