Estranged family members come out of the strangest places when the lottery is won or someone has presidential aspirations. These quiet individuals find a sense of power when a relative has hit it big and is about to hit it bigger.

In Barack Obama’s case, Vanity Fair reported on a half-brother who was recently discovered living in a small shack in Kenya. Obama’s relative lives on less than $1 a month.

National Public Radio found Cindy McCain’s half-sister, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, who is not only a Democrat but also felt slighted when McCain described herself “as an only child” in a previous NPR report. However, McCain did grow up without other siblings in a two-parent household, while her half-sister grew up with a single mother.

NPR continues to almost blame McCain for her sister’s “modest” past and current circumstances. EyeBlast.tv has the NPR audio report.