Anyone can become President

… if you are stinking rich. Quoth Associated Press:

Cindy McCain, who two weeks ago said she would never make her tax returns public, revealed Friday that she had a total income of more than $6 million in 2006.

The presidential campaign of her husband, Republican John McCain, released the top two summary pages of her 2006 tax return, eager to avoid making her earlier refusal an issue in the contest.

… The Arizona senator released his own tax return last month, reporting a total income of $405,409 in 2007 and $84,460 in federal income taxes.McCain’s two Democratic rivals — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — released information about their taxes earlier. Both Obama and Clinton file their taxes jointly with their spouses, offering more detail of each family’s wealth and income.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported making $4.2 million in 2007, while the Clintons reported $20.4 million in income.

Confined to only the summary pages, her released returns offer limited information. She listed $4.5 million in income from a broad category that includes rental real estate, royalties, partnerships and trusts. She also reported nearly $300,000 in salary income, more than $280,000 in dividends, and more than $740,000 in capital gains.

Heiress to a large Arizona beer distributorship, Cindy McCain’s worth has been estimated at more than $100 million. Her assets, as listed in McCain’s personal financial disclosure, are vast. But presidential and senatorial financial disclosures only require assets to be listed in broad ranges, and many of hers are valued at simply “over $1 million.”