Road to White House takes big bucks and Grammy Award winners have more than most candidates

By Dian Vujovich

If all it takes is money to get into the White House, heaven knows Grammy winners have plenty of it. A lot more when you compare their incomes with those who are currently seeking the Office of President.

In honor of President’s Day, I thought I’d have a little fun and look at how the 2010 incomes of those who want to be President of the United States stack up against those of recent Grammy Award winners.

If you’re thinking that that comparison is goofy, American’s these days seem to prefer hearing, reading and learning more about singers, actors and athletes than they do the accomplishments of say those in the fields of history, science or math. And given that we’ve already elected one entertainer as President (and we all know how that went), who knows?

That said, entertainers do have a leg up over candidates when it comes to things like popularity, name recognition, looks and what it takes to get noticed. They’re also keenly aware of what it’s like to deal with the press, paparazzi, handlers and all sorts of imaginable marketing collateral. So while I’m not suggesting that say Sir Paul McCartney could or even would want to be the prez, he probably does have the income to pull it off and might just be the one whose coffers come closest to Willard Mitt Romney’s. And as you know, it’s money more than anything else that makes our political system go ’round.

But McCartney isn’t the only one with bucks enough to slide into our top office. Can you say hello to President Taylor Swift?

To that income-only end, here’s a look at the 2010 incomes of the four Republican’s hoping to get the presidential nod from their party, along with President Obama’s. The source is a recently published piece at Christianpost.com and the listing order from the highest to lowest income:

1.Mitt Romney: $21 million in 2010.

2.Newt Gingrich: $3.1 million

3.President Obama: $1.8 million

4.Rick Santorum: $923,000

5.Ron Paul has not released his taxes and apparently has no intention of doing so.

On the way-much-bigger other hand are the incomes of last year’s highest earning Grammy Award winners, according to Forbes:

1.Paul McCartney hit the high note bringing home $67 million.

2.Taylor Swift is next with $45 million.

3.Jay-Z: $37 million. That makes him “hip-hop’s Cash King for the fourth time in five years.”

4.Kanye West: $16 million.

5.And Adele at $18 million.

Now that’s some range.

Happy President’s Day.