Blue Spot

Obama pounces as McCain unsure of how many homes he owns - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama's campaign pounded Sen. John McCain for his failure to answer a question about how many homes he owns with a new attack ad Thursday.

"Somebody asked John McCain, 'How many houses do you have?' and he said, 'I'm not sure, I'll have to check with my staff,' " Obama said Thursday in Virginia. "True quote. 'I'm not sure, I'll have to check with my staff.' So they asked his staff and he said, 'At least four.' "

Obama was referring to McCain's comments in a interview for the Politico Web site. "I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."

The McCain campaign later told Politico the senator from Arizona and his wife, Cindy, own at least four homes in three states. Other news organizations have reported a higher total. Cindy McCain is heir to a beer fortune estimated at roughly $100 million.

John McCain faced similar criticism from Obama afters remarks Saturday at the Rev. Rick Warren's faith forum in which the Republican joked that someone would need to earn $5 million a year to be defined as rich in the U.S.

"Now think about that -- I guess if you think that being rich means you gotta make $5 million, and if you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong," Obama said Thursday.