McCain Doesn't Remember How Many Houses He Owns

Nico Pitney
HuffPost Reporting From DC
The Huffington Post
August 21, 2008

John McCain said in an interview with Politico on Wednesday "that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own."

"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain said. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."

The answer, according to the group Progressive Accountability, is an even 10 homes, ranches, condos, and lofts, together worth a combined estimated $13,823,269.

John and Cindy McCain own a plethora of houses spread throughout the United States, including: two beachfront condos in Coronado, California, condo in La Jolla, California, a two-unit condominium complex in Phoenix, Arizona, three ranch houses located outside of Sedona, Arizona, a high-rise condo in Arlington, Virginia, a rental loft, and, according to GQ, a loft they bought for their daughter, Meghan.

As Politico notes, McCain's comments are a serious potential gaffe, as they dovetail with an increasingly aggressive effort to paint the GOP nominee as wildly out of touch on economic issues.

In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as
living an outlandishly rich lifestyle -- a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain's wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.

Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain's houses.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico's Ben Smith that it was McCain "who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state."

And David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists "on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona -- or maybe in one of his six other houses."

McCain's comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren
during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5
million -- a careless comment he quickly corrected.

UPDATE: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine piles on:

Obama V.P. prospect and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine mocked Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., on Thursday for not knowing exactly how many houses he owns.

"I understand that Sen. McCain was asked yesterday this question, 'how
many houses do you own?,' and he couldn't answer that question. He couldn't
count high enough, apparently, to even know how many houses he owns," said
Kaine.

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