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."

According to reports earlier this year, the McCain McMansion count is eight. His properties include a 10 acre lake-side Sedona estate, euphemistically called a "cabin" by the McCain campaign, and a home featured in Architectural Digest. The one featuring "remote control window coverings" was recently put up for sale. Still, their formidable resources did not prevent the McCains from failing to pay taxes on a tony La Jolla, California condo used by Cindy's aged aunt.
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.