John McCain has finally and definitively answered the question, how do you define "rich?" After first joking that "$5 million" marked the line between middle class and rich and then arguing, "I define rich in other ways besides income," John McCain provided the real answer Thursday. A rich man doesn't even know how many houses he owns.

That moment of clarity for American voters - if not for McCain himself - came in an interview with the Politico:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."

As Matthew Yglesias points out, with McCain in some cases owning many homes on a single massive estate, it's hard to keep count. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine came to McCain's defense, noting the $100 million man "couldn't count high enough." For its part, the Obama campaign was only too happy to help out, producing a devastating ad today that tells John McCain the answer is "seven."

Back in March, John McCain lectured desperate Americans facing foreclosure that they ought to be "doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time."

That's easy to say when you don't know how many homes you have.

For the gold-plated details of the detached lives of John and Cindy McCain, see:
"The Haves, The Have Mores and the McCains."

UPDATE: The Politico now claims McCain has 8 homes, while Progressive Accountability counts 10.