[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/12/art.bidenstlouis0912.ap.jpg caption="Sen. Biden campaigned in St. Louis earlier this week."]
(CNN) - Joe Biden's newly released tax returns appear to confirm what the Democratic VP candidate has long contended - he is among the poorest U.S. senators currently serving.
At least half the nation’s senators are millionaires. But Biden and his wife Jill earned a relatively small $320,000 in 2006, paying about $66,000 in taxes. Over the last 10 years Biden and his wife earned just shy of $2.5 million - an average income of roughly $245,000 per year.
The Obama campaign released the 10 years worth of documents earlier Friday, in part to pressure the McCain campaign to do the same with Sarah Palin and her husband Todd's returns.
“The last eight years have brought Americans' faith in their government to its lowest point in over thirty years," Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said. "The only answer is to change the way we do business in Washington. That starts with something as simple as transparency. That's why Senator Biden is releasing his tax returns for the last 10 years."
A McCain aide told CNN Friday the campaign would release Palin's documents, but on their "own timeframe."
The Bidens' returns do not specify the various sources of the income, but the Delaware Democrat earns $165,000 per year as a senator and draws roughly $20,000 annually from his visiting law professorship at Widener University. Jill Biden is a teacher in Delaware and draws a salary of about $66,000. The 2007 tax returns also indicate Biden earned $71,000 in royalties for his book "Promises to Keep."
Biden, who does not hold a second residence in Washington and commutes back to Delaware daily via Amtrak train, often jokes about his relatively poor financial standing on the campaign trail. His modes net worth is also touted by the Obama campaign as a sign Biden has not become a creature of Washington or a fixture on its cocktail circuit.
"I make a good salary, although I am listed as the second-poorest man in this Congress," Biden said in Missouri last week. "I’m not proud of it. I’m not proud of it. But that’s what happens when you get elected when you’re 29 years old."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/12/art.toddpalin0912.ap.jpg caption="Todd Palin sat with his wife, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, during the final night of the Republican convention."]
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) - A special counsel has asked Alaskan lawmakers to subpoena Gov. Sarah Palin's husband and a dozen aides as part of the investigation into Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner.
Todd Palin has been a "principal critic" of his wife's ex-brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, and had "many contacts" with Department of Public Safety officials about his status, said Steve Branchflower, the former prosecutor hired by the state Legislature to investigate the firing.
Sarah Palin, now the Republican nominee for vice president, is battling allegations that she and her advisers pressured then-Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire Wooten - and that Monegan was canned when he refused.
Palin has said she fired Monegan over budget issues and denies any wrongdoing.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/12/art.viewabc.cnn.jpg caption="Sen. John McCain was a guest on 'The View' Friday."]
(CNN) - When John McCain agreed to appear on the day-time talk fest known as The View, he may not have been expecting too many hard-hitting questions.
But the Arizona senator was aggressively pressed on VP candidate Sarah Palin's qualifications to be vice president, as well as his new negative campaign ads that several independent fact-checks have called downright misleading.
Co-host Barbara Walters immediately asked McCain about a remark he’d made that Palin might just be the most "marvelous running mate" ever, asking, "that's not a little strong?"
"We politicians are never given to exaggerations or hyperbole, as you know," McCain joked, before praising Palin as the most "popular governor in America" and one who has united a "spark in America."
Walters went on to press Palin's reformist credentials, noting McCain has served in Washington for more than two decades and asking repeatedly, "who's she going to reform, you?"
McCain began to answer by saying Democrats have held control of Congress for two years, before Walters quickly interrupted: “But tell me who she is going to reform - we aren't talking about the economy, we're not talking about housing, she was chosen to reform, who is she going to reform?"
"The Democrat Party, the Republican Party, even an independent," McCain said, appearing somewhat frustrated, "She'll reform all of Washington."
"How? What will she do," Walters appearing somewhat exasperated said. "What is she going to reform specifically, senator?"
(CNN) - The Obama campaign posted the past 10 years of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill's tax returns on its Web site Friday.
UPDATE: Asked if the McCain campaign will release Sarah Palin's taxes, an aide said, "of course we'll release them...on our timetable."
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/POLITICS/08/07/preston.energy/art.cash.credit.gi.jpg caption="Voters are focused on the continuing pain at the pump."]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The high price of gasoline is voters' top economic concern, according to a poll released Friday.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 35% said price of gasoline was their highest concern. That was followed by availability of good jobs (28%), high taxes (18%) and mortgages or home values (18%).
The poll was taken on Sept. 5-7 and surveyed 1,022 adults. It has a margin of error of three percentage points.
While energy concerns led the list, the percentage of respondents who said that high gas prices were causing them "financial hardship" fell to 63% from 75% in July.
Indeed, gas was selling at $3.67 on Friday – more than 80 cents higher than it was a year ago – but 40 cents below its high point in July.
Commodity investors have been worried that the high price of gasoline and other petroleum-derived fuels have been cutting into demand.
Volatile gas prices ticked upward Friday as Hurricane Ike threatened the north Texas coast
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