How much is Hillary Clinton worth?

This week Senator Hillary Clinton will seek to recover from another barrage of negative media stories, less than a fortnight before the Democratic party's presidential primary in Pennsylvania.  Her campaign has been plagued since late March by a series of damaging flaps, particularly Clinton's 'misremembered' 1996 visit to Bosnia under non-existent 'sniper fire'.  This story has done real damage to her political standing, given that voters fault Clinton's 'trustworthiness' relative to her primary opponent, Senator Barack Obama.

A taxing problem?

Attention has now shifted to the Clinton finances, which were the subject of the interminable 'Whitewater' investigation during former President Bill Clinton's tenure in office.  After a long delay, on April 4 the campaign finally released her tax returns, which she files jointly with her husband.  They revealed that the Clintons have generated 109 million dollars in income since leaving the White House in 2001. 

On the surface, the degree to which the Clintons have cashed-in on their political prominence may appear unseemly -- particularly to some media outlets abroad.  However, inside the United States there is little stigma attached to high net worth office-seekers. 

• Indeed, given the cost of funding state-wide or national campaigns, there is some indication that voters actually prefer to back rich candidates, on the assumption that they are 'too rich to be bought' by narrow interests.

• Financial information entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg leveraged his 12 billion dollar fortune to become mayor of New York City in 2002; the former New Jersey senator, and current governor, Jon Corzine, spent 62 million dollars of a fortune he earned at Goldman Sachs on his 2001 senate campaign.

Wealth is often equated with virtue in the United States -- particularly when it is the product of success in business.  It only has a negative political impact when it is seen as having been earned in an underhanded manner.  The Clintons accumulated their millions largely through book royalties and speaking fees, and donated nearly 10 million dollars to charity.  Hillary Clinton's Tuzla 'misstatements' may hurt her in Pennsylvania, but her wealth will not -- even among down and out union members in the 'Keystone state'.