Last week, after John McCain had trouble remembering how many homes he owned, PaperTrail took a look at the number of houses owned by the top four candidates for Democratic VP. As you’re no doubt aware, Obama picked Joe Biden, the owner of a mere one home (assessed value: $527,500). In advance of John McCain’s selection of his veep, we now pose the same question, but for the other side of the aisle: How many houses do McCain’s leading VP choices own?
Some reminders about how this game is played: Politicians aren’t required to list the houses they own on their disclosure forms. Thus, information comes from both official financial disclosure forms, located free at www.opensecrets.org and www.legistorm.com, from searches using Nexis, the subscription-only database service, and from press reports. All money totals are based on the most recent available assessments.
REPUBLICAN VP OPTIONS AND THEIR LAND HOLDINGS
- Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota owns:
-A house in St. Paul, Minnesota, worth $330,800. (Nexis)
- Former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge owns:
-A house in Erie, Pennsylvania, worth $460,990. (Nexis)
-A house in Chevy Chase, Maryland, worth $1,684,452. (Nexis)
- Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut owns:
-A condo in Stamford, Connecticut, worth $402,500. (Nexis)
-A row house in Washington, D.C., worth $1,276,650. (Nexis)
-A third of an apartment he shares with his sisters, inherited from their mother, of which Lieberman receives between $201 and $1,000 a year in rent.
- And then there’s former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, our runaway winner. During the Republican primary, Romney was frequently attacked by his rivals on account of his vast personal wealth. So, how many homes for Mitt? Well, at least four:
-His primary residence in Belmont, Massachusetts, worth $3,474,000. (Nexis)
-A lake home in Wolfboro, New Hampshire, worth more than $10 million.
-A ski lodge in Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.
-A house the Romneys purchased in June of this year in La Jolla, California, worth $12 million.
But there’s more: Romney’s real estate portfolio apparently puts to shame even McCain’s eight properties. According to the ex-gov’s financial disclosure forms filed when he was running for president, Romney holds an interest in 51 different properties through the Whitehall Real Estate Funds. These holdings include apartments in New York, hotels in Italy and Canada, and land in Thailand and France.
Maybe he can let Joe Biden borrow one for a weekend getaway.
Laura Cheek contributed to this report.