Beneath the veneer of "kiss the cook" joviality, the Matlock of the Grill-Tongs has a not so very hidden secret:

Aside from a Wachovia checking account, in which he keeps between $15,000 and $50,000 (wouldn't some of that money earn more interest in a certificate of deposit?), all of [the McCains'] assets are in Cindy's name. John McCain's tax return is so anemic, so marginal to the couple's actual financial situation, that he doesn't even take a deduction for interest on his home mortgage. Presumably Cindy does, since disclosure forms indicate that she has several mortgages.

Kevin Drum states a fact and asks a question:

There's only one reason for a politician to make sure that all his assets are in his wife's name: it's to make sure that no one knows anything about his assets. It's not as if McCain is the first pol to try this, after all.

Is the press really going to let him get away with this?

Why, yes:

So how did they taste?

Objectivity prohibits a good reporter from passing judgement, but let’s put it this way: everyone wants to come back.

Funny, how the rules change:

April 24, 2004:

Kerry braces for demands to release wife's tax returns
Analysts say such disclosure has become expected
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
New York Times

...Stephen Hess, an expert in presidential politics at the Brookings Institution who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon White Houses, said the Kerrys relinquished their claims on privacy when Kerry decided to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

"No one makes you run for president," Hess said. "If you're asking your fellow Americans to make you president, you're asking for as much power as can be bestowed."

Kat Seelye, dry rub enthusiast.