Municipal bonds enjoy support among presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle.
Republicans Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, along with Democrats John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Mike Gravel, hold approximately $15.7 million combined of tax-exempt bonds, according to federal financial disclosure reports cited by The Bond Buyer.
Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, leads the pack, holding as much as $5.6 million in bonds. Edwards, former senator from North Carolina, owns $5.5 million of bonds with his wife. Sen. McCain, of Arizona, says his family holds $4.5 million in municipal bonds, while Gravel, a former senator from Alaska, has more than $50,000 in muni bonds.
The reports indicate that Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York held as much as $2.2 million in muni bonds before selling them in May.
As we previously reported (“Bonds Make for Strange Political Bedfellows”), political leaders of all stripes find munis attractive. All told, investors currently hold a record $2.34 trillion in municipal bonds.