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Hillary Rodham Clinton says she and Bill were 鈥渄ead broke鈥� when they left the White House in 2001. Legal fees associated with President Clinton鈥檚 impeachment over aspects of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky left the couple roughly $12 million in debt, the former secretary of State told ABC鈥檚 鈥淕ood Morning America.鈥�

Ms. Clinton argues that because of their financial straits, she understands what it means for ordinary Americans to struggle to make ends meet. But Republicans have leapt on this comment as a means to try to portray her as out of touch.

True, they were in the red when the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue shut behind them. However, Mr. Clinton was in line to receive an annual $200,000 pension as an ex-president. Ms. Clinton had been elected to the US Senate from New York.

Their real problem was that they needed to scrabble to make enough cash to live like 鈥渢heir rich and famous pals, and to do that they had to milk their fame for all it has been worth,鈥� Tuesday on her 鈥淩ight Turn鈥� Washington Post blog.

Since then, the couple has made more than $100 million in income from speeches and books. Their net worth is an estimated $10 million to $50 million.

Will this spat over finances have any actual electoral effect? We鈥檇 say the chances of that are close to zero. Voters do think a candidate鈥檚 ability to relate to average folks is important, but they tend to judge that by how the candidate performs on television. President George W. Bush rated high on this score, for instance, and he鈥檚 worth $20 million himself.

No, Ms. Clinton鈥檚 biggest problem at the moment isn鈥檛 some slip of the tongue. It isn鈥檛 even her role in whatever happened in Benghazi, points out Brendan Nyhan, an assistant professor of government at Dartmouth. It鈥檚 Obama fatigue.

鈥淎 far more significant threat to her potential candidacy is Americans鈥� desire for new leadership after eight years of the Obama administration,鈥� writes Professor Nyhan recently in The New York Times鈥檚 policy section 鈥淭he Upshot.鈥�

Nyhan points to a recent Pew/USA Today poll that finds that 65 percent of Americans would like to see a president who offers policies and programs different from those of the current administration. Only 30 percent would like policies and programs similar to those of President Obama.

OK, but just out of curiosity, how rich are the Clintons, anyway?

In terms of US presidents, they鈥檙e pretty wealthy, according to a list of the compiled by the 24/7 Wall St. site.

This list, updated earlier this year, pegs Mr. Clinton鈥檚 net worth at the high end of most estimates: $55 million. That would be good enough to make him the 11th richest president, out of 44 who have served so far.

By extension, that means Ms. Clinton is almost eight times as rich as Mr. Obama, in case you鈥檙e interested. His net worth is listed as $7 million.

The richest president of all time? That would be John F. Kennedy, whose family estate, amassed by his Wall Street financier father Joseph P. Kennedy, approached $1 billion in today鈥檚 dollars.