How rich is Romney vs. past presidents?
Just how rich is Mitt Romney? Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you're in Romney territory.
He would be among the richest presidents in U.S. history if elected -- probably in the top four. He couldn't top George Washington, whose wealth is estimated at the equivalent of $525 million in 2010 dollars. (Yet he had to borrow money to pay for his trip to his inauguration in 1789 because his money was tied up in land.) After that, it gets complicated, depending how you rate Thomas Jefferson's plantation or Herbert Hoover's mining millions, as well as the finer points of inflation adjustment.
Romney has disclosed only the outlines of his wealth, putting it at $190 million to $250 million. He is within that elite 0.006 percent of U.S. taxpayers. He's about 50 times richer than Obama, who falls in the still-impressive-to-most-of-us range of $2.2 million to $7.5 million. Compared with a regular Joe, Romney is about 1,800 times richer.
NBC ASKS ROMNEY TO STOP BROKAW AD
NBC asked Mitt Romney on Saturday to pull a campaign ad made up almost entirely of a 1997 "Nightly News" report on Newt Gingrich's ethics committee reprimand.
The "History Lesson" ad shows former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw saying that some of Gingrich's House colleagues had raised questions about his "future effectiveness." Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign believes the ad "falls within fair use." But NBC said it "exploits [Brokaw] and the journalistic credibility of NBC News."
HERMAN CAIN ENDORSES GINGRICH
Herman Cain, who ended his presidential bid in December, endorsed Newt Gingrich for president on Saturday, injecting some energy into the campaign two days before Florida's primary. He called Gingrich the right person to address the "crisis of leadership in the White House." Gingrich said Cain would be a part of a panel on "jobs, economic growth and taxes" should Gingrich become president.
SANTORUM'S DAUGHTER HOSPITALIZED
Rick Santorum's campaign said late Saturday that his daughter Isabella, 3, who has Trisomy 18, has been admitted to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, and he is canceling his campaign plans in Florida on Sunday morning. The campaign said he plans to resume campaigning as soon as possible. Trisomy 18 is caused by all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. About 90 percent die before their first birthdays and survivors can have respiratory problems and developmental delay.
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