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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney leads in more than the Republican primaries: He's the richest candidate in a decade, with a net worth of approximately $250 million.
Photo courtesy PR Photo. Mitt Romney's personal net worth is estimated at $250 million.
The last candidate to top that figure was Steve Forbes, the publishing magnate who ran in 2000. His personal net worth is estimated to be $450 million. But the one who surpasses them all is Independent Ross Perot, who bid for the presidency in 1992 and 1996 and has a net worth of just less than $4 billion.
A study by Wealth-X ranked the presidential candidates according to current personal wealth, and as the Wall Street Journal reports, all of them for nearly the past 20 years are worth at least $30 million.
Democrat John Kerry (2004 candidate), who has said his fortune comes largely from his wife, clocks in at $240 million; Democrat Hillary Clinton (2008) has $85 million; Republican John McCain (2000 and 2008) has $40 million; and Democrat Al Gore (2000) is worth about $100 million.
The tradition of wealthy presidents began with our first: George Washington's net worth was estimated by the Huffington Post to be $545 million in 2010 dollars, while the net worth of our current president, Barack Obama, was $5 million in 2010. That might not place him in the big leagues, but he is certainly part of the wealthiest 1 percent of the population that has been the focus of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Improving the economy continues to rank highest among voter concerns. Do you think a presidential candidate's personal net worth well into the millions matters with voters?
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I don't think a candidates wealth is a serious consideration for the majority of voters. Most realize those that join in the presidential circus, seeking the nomination, do so because they have the wealth enabling them to focus on the task. It strokes their ego's. The very personalities that will suffer the humiliation of the presidential race, including the nomination process, are the very people we shouldn't want to hold the job.