"spread the wealth around"

Although the Obama campaign has not released the couple's 2007 return, it has said they  gave $240,000 to charity in 2007. This compares with charitable donations as low as $1,050 a few years ago. 

In 2004, before Mr. Obama entered the Senate, he and his wife gave $2,500 to charity, 1.2 percent of the taxable income. The next year, the donations jumped, to $77,315, or nearly 5 percent of the taxable income. 

"Their charitable giving only went up when it looked like he was campaigning for the presidential office," said Paul L. Caron, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and editor of the TaxProf Blog, which examines tax questions and has posted the returns. 

The 2006 return also show a charitable deduction for a $13,000 donation to the Congressional Black Caucus. It is illegal to deduct political contributions as charitable contributions. The campaign said Mr. Obama had filed an amended return to eliminate that item as a deduction. 

The Bidens reported giving $995 in charitable donations last year — about 0.3% of their income and the highest amount in the past decade. The low was $120 in 1999, about 0.1% of yearly income. 

Over the decade, the Bidens reported a total of $3,690 in charitable donations, or 0.2% of their income. This is an average of $369 per year.

In contrast, McCain and his wife reported donating $129,390, or about 18%, of their joint income to charity in 2006 and nearly $211,000, or about 27%, last year. McCain's campaign says he donates royalties from his five books to charity, as well as each increase to his Senate salary since he first took office in 1991.

Maybe if Barack and Joe want to "spread the wealth around" they should up their charitable giving.