The poor man among the top tier of presidential candidates is Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who scraped by last year on an income of just under $1 million.
A required federal financial disclosure form the campaign released on Wednesday showed that the senator’s popularity generated $572,000 in book royalties last year, contributing to Obama family income of $991,000.
The financial disclosure reports and additional financial details provided by some candidates offered a portrait of a campaign in which the major candidates often have divergent political views but all could belong to a millionaires’ club. Obama reported his family’s net worth as between $456,000 and $1.14 million, not including the equity in the Kenwood home he bought two years ago for $1.65 million.
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a Republican, earned more than $16.8 million last year from an array of firms he owns, including financial, business and security consulting companies, and from speeches. Giuliani received as much as $300,000 for his speaking appearances.
Overall, Giuliani is worth between $13 million and $45 million, based on the disclosure form, which only requires that assets be valued in broad ranges. Some candidates voluntarily gave precise valuations.
Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) reported income of more than $7.1 million, most of it investment returns on a fortune of $29.5 million, placed in assets that took 40 pages to list. His earned income included $480,000 from consulting work for the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) all received 45-day extensions on the deadline for filing their financial disclosures.
But those candidates also have considerable wealth. Former President Bill Clinton earned about $10 million in speaking fees last year and collected nearly $40 million for appearances since leaving office. McCain previously has reported a $15 million family fortune, mostly through his wife, who is the daughter of an Arizona beer magnate. And advisers to Romney, who has run a private equity firm and served as chief executive of the management consulting firm Bain & Co., have indicated he will report between $190 million and $250 million in assets.
The disclosure forms also offered an insight into how candidates have invested their money. Spokesmen for Obama and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), both highly critical of the violence in Darfur, said the candidates recently have reconfigured their investments to divest of companies that do business in Sudan.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who has called for dramatic reductions in the use of fossil fuels, reported holding between $250,000 and $500,000 in stock options with the nation’s largest independent oil refinery.
Richardson was granted the options in Valero Energy Corp. for serving on its board of directors from March 2001 through June 2002, shortly after his term as energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
Richardson also owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in stock in Valero. He earned between $50,000 and $100,000 in capital gains from sales last year of Diamond Offshore Drilling, another energy company.
In his report, Richardson said that if elected president he intends to exercise his options in Valero and then divest himself of the company’s stock.
Republican Mike Huckabee earned considerably less from his $74,000-per-year day job as governor of Arkansas last year than from outside activities. He earned $162,000 in speaking fees and book royalties, another $40,000 as an officer of 12 Stops Inc., a company set up to handle those royalties and fees, and $40,000 for consulting work for the National Association of Music Manufacturers.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) became the second presidential candidate to release his tax returns. He followed Obama, who released his returns April 16.
Dodd and his wife reported income of $873,000 last year and paid $223,000 in federal income taxes. Dodd’s wife, Jackie, was paid for serving on six boards of directors, including for the Chicago Board of Trade.
Dodd’s disclosure form also showed he owns a cottage in County Galway in Ireland.
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mdorning@tribune.com
