Fun Facts

I’ve realized that I’m falling into a little trap. More often than not, when people talk about the American Political System, people feel the need to become cynical. And frankly, I’m sick of hearing this dumb “self pity” American perspective. Listen people- cut your whining and your moping. Crying over the things you disagree with will not change the system, if you feel it needs change, nor will it elect a president.

And it’s this mentality that I feel I, and other bloggers, are tempted to go toward- and not necessarily because we are criticizing anything, but because it’s easier to write from that perspective. So, in honor of breaking that trend, this little blog is on some fun facts I came across in an article by Colleen Kane of CNBC.com. Here are some information on our Republican candidates’ homes and estates.

According to the article, Mitt Romney owns the most estate out of all the candidates. Specifically, his lodge in Utah is quite impressive. Romney bought the house for over 5 million dollars. The lodge itself is equipped with 9.5 bathrooms, 7 bedrooms, and 9,500 square feet.  Yes…9,500 square feet. This is not the only property that Romney owns- in 2009 Romney owned 4 other estates.

Another interesting house to take a look at is Michele Bachmann’s! She bought her 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom home in 2008 in Minnesota. At that time, the home was worth $760,000. Her home now overlooks the 18^th hole of a StoneRidge Golf Course. The house itself looks like an “extreme makeover” home. Unfortunately, Romney still beats her out in the square footage, where she only stands with 5,200 square feet.

Now here is my all time favorite candidate house. Though only a 3 bathroom house, with just over 5,000 square feet, Rick Santorum’s home in Virginia actually made me laugh. Though his home is gorgeous, you can tell he doesn’t spend much time outside… In 2007, his house cost $850,000.

So there are three homes that, otherwise, are just a little bit of fun facts about some of our candidates. But what I’m actually interested in is what the houses say about the candidates. For example, look above at Santorum’s house. It’s exactly who he is, right? Kind of bland- dry cereal in the morning- plenty of room but not much going on around it. Honestly, it’s a house that would be passed and unrecognized too. Unfortunately in my opinion, that is Santorum in a nutshell: a candidate that is kind of on the back burner. Romney’s house is the other interesting item on our list of personality homes. We know Romney to be the business man, a corporate man. His houses certainly reflect the image of a wealthy business man with the luxury of being and working in an upper-class system.

I’m not taking credibility away from any of the candidates here. I’m offering that these little fun facts can maybe hold water in a case for the way a candidate is. “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything” is a phrase that automatically comes to mind when I see these fun facts. If anything, they are consistent with the people we are seeing in the Primary debates right now.

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/homes-of-the-gop-candidates.html