CASH MONEY MILLIONAIRES '08 Candidates
More and more 2008 presidential candidates are filing the appropriate paperwork to legitimize their runs for office, and doing so means disclosing their worth. What have we learned so far? They're all filthy stinkin' rich. Not, like, Olsen-twin rich, mind you, but certainly Urkel rich. For a rundown of candidates' worth in relevant pop culture terms, read on! (Note: For those who got extensions for filing their paperwork, Radar used the the latest, best available info.)
Half of the Obama family's income last year came from sales of the senator's book, with the rest from his congressional salary and her work for the University of Chicago Medical Center. In total, they made $991,000, or nine dollars short of what Urkel got for 10 episodes of Family Matters.
The pudgy governor who for years falsely claimed to have been drafted by a major league baseball team may be worth just over $10 million, which is how much Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez is getting paid this year by the Detroit Tigers.
They may be the same height, but Abigail Breslin of Little Miss Sunshine is at least 3 million pesos richer than Tancredo.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il reportedly spends $800,000 a year on cognac. The former governor of Arkansas may be worth a little more than that.
While Romney has not yet filed his financial disclosure, the fortune created by the private equity firm he helped found has been estimated to be around $250 million, or 78,518 times more than an average Iraqi soldier makes in a year.
Edwards made roughly half a million last year as an advisor for a hedge fund and has invested a significantly larger amount of his fortune into the fund, putting his assets on par with the amount Van Halen made on tour last year ($29.6 million).
While the Clintons left the White House with more than $10 million in legal debt, they've been raking it in ever since. In addition to several book deals, the former president has wrung $40 million out of the speech-making circuit, which is how much Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made just last year.
McCain, who spearheaded the investigation into fedora-rockin' crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has more than $25 million in assets, which is about how much Abramoff admitted to ripping off his own clients.
The staunch opponent of gay marriage may be worth up to $8.7 million. That's enough to have this therapist turn about 620 homosexuals straight.
Dodd is a millionaire, but he's still worth at least a million and half less than what Kim Kardashian got for her sex video.
This tough-talking former Army Ranger, seen by some as the living embodiment of the military industrial complex, has assets equal to the cost of 38 Hellfire missiles. Or the amount it cost Girls Gone Wild meatstick Joe Francis to get the Justice Department off his back for filming underage girls.
The doctor from Texas stirred up this week's debate by suggesting that U.S. policies helped bring about the 9/11 attacks. He is personally worth somewhere from three to six times the amount it cost Al Qaeda to stage the attack (about $500,000).
The most generous estimate of Gravel's fortune ($735,000) puts him just a shade above what Delta Farce took in at the box office the first three days of this week.
Thompson, who recently marveled at the strong business sense of all Jews, has asked for extra time before filing his financial disclosure so that he can get a better handle on some "complex business transactions."
Since claiming about $7,000 in assets during his nasty 2001 divorce, Rudy has been on a rocket ride to rich guy land. He's fattened his wallet with revenue from a consulting firm, a law firm, two books, and even royalties from his cameo TV and film appearances. But his biggest money-maker has been the speech-making circuit, where the former NYC mayor has made more than $11 million. In total, he took in $16.1 million in 2006, same as Beyoncé.
One of the least wealthy candidates, Biden is barely worth three kilos of pure Colombian cocaine.
If Kucinich liquidated all of his assets, he might be able to buy this necklace from Lil Jon.
Photo: Getty Images
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