UPDATE: A Tree the GOP Seriously Shouldn't Be Barking Up

Just received an RNC presser trying to push the story that Sen. Obama got a "sweetheart" deal to mortgage his Chicago condo at 5 and 5/8 percent fixed over 30 years. Personally, I know there are web mortgage companies such as Ditech and ING advertising 30 year fixed rates at that rate or lower, so I really don't see the scandal there. 

But, when you keep calling attention to the candidates' housing situations, its only a matter of time before someone figures out that Sen. McCain and his wife have seven houses. SEVEN!!! No wonder Sen. McCain was delinquent on the property taxes on his home in La Jolla, California. I would be too if I had to keep track of SEVEN HOUSES.

So, RNC, maybe this isn't the particular tree you want to be barking up?

UPDATE: As Nate Silver ably points out over at FiveThirtyEight.com, the rate the Obamas received on their mortage was about 30 basis points better than the average loan. (a basis point is 1/100th of a percent) That is not at all suspcious considering this statement from Fair Issac, the creator of the FICO score that is commonly used in making loan offers:

A borrower with very good credit can expect a mortgage rate about 30 basis points better than someone with average credit, and a borrower with excellent credit can expect about a 50 basis point discount.

So, unless the RNC knows the Obama's credit rating, it has no way of being able to tell if this is a "sweetheart" deal, or just a bank giving a better offer to an exceptionally creditworthy customer. Seriously. Is this what they're scrounging for? Is this all they have?