Holly Bailey
|
May 31, 2007 03:38 PM
Gas prices may be up, but there's something that's apparently a little
cheaper these days: A photo with President Bush. Yesterday, Bush
headlined a fundraiser for the New Jersey state GOP, where donors could
pay $5,000 to pose for a photo with the Commander in Chief. Expensive
photo op, right? Well, that's actually cheaper that what donors paid
just a year ago for a grip and grin with Bush. Last summer, GOP
officials around the country charged at least $10,000 a pop for
presidential photo op, a bargain compared to the $25,000-a-flash Bush
commanded during some Republican National Committee fund-raisers back
in 2000 and 2004. Maybe it's just a Jersey thing. Although Bush's poll
numbers are low nationally, the president is particularly unpopular in
New Jersey, where his approval rating is just 25 percent according to
one recent poll. In fact, Bush hadn't campaigned in the state since
2005. Last summer, the GOP relied instead on other administration
emissaries like Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney and former
President George H.W. Bush. They all campaigned for Tom Kean Jr., who
ran for (and ultimately lost) New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat. For the
record, a photo with Rove cost donors $1,000, while pictures with
Cheney and Bush's dad were priced at $5,000. But that's peanuts. In
June 2006, donors at a Kean fundraiser paid $10,000 a piece for a photo
op with First Lady Laura Bush. At least President Bush can feel good
about one thing: Wednesday's event took in about $675,000 for New
Jersey Republicans, not a bad haul in a state where most people would
rather get a souvenir pic of the president walking out the door.
