Robert Greenwald and his dogged band of researchers at Brave New Films have a new film focusing on John McCain's real-estate mini-empire. Here is the release announcing it:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 18, 2008

AFL-CIO AND SEIU TEAM UP WITH BRAVE NEW FILMS TO TELL PUBLIC THAT MULTIMILLIONAIRE JOHN MCCAIN IS THE REAL ELITIST

LOS ANGELES -- This morning, Brave New Films distributed to its list of 500,000 people a new online video meant to bring attention to John McCain's exorbitant personal wealth. "McCain's Mansions: The Real Elitist" makes the case that McCain's privilege and affluence put him out of touch with the struggles of ordinary working Americans in a recession economy. The video, which features pictures of six of McCain's ten estates, follows on the heels of a mailer with the same message sent by the AFL-CIO to 50,000 retired union members last week.

If only this sort of thing got the kind of media circulation that John Edwards' haircut or North Carolina home received during the primaries. Not gonna happen, I suspect.

Our own Joe Conason or the folks over at Media Matters are more expert at this, but the reality is that any favorable rumor or narrative will always get ramped up by conservatives via Matt Drudge or Sean Hannity. That is how, a few media iterations later, we end up with Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos using the "people are talking about" warrant for asking about flag lapel pins and such. Well, "people" are talking about McCain's many homes. You think a moderator is ever going to ask why McCain or any American needs that many properties?