Me personally, you’d have to pay me a fair amount to get me to photograph myself with President Bush. At least a photograph that didn’t involve me making a rude gesture of some kind. That said, many are obviously willing to pay high amounts for the… privilege… of being next to the man for a picture. What amuses me is that those amounts are becoming less and less high.

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.

The GOP is running from their frontman like people from a burning building. Oh by the way, his inational ratings hovering around the 28% mark, so it’s not like New Jersey is particularly anti-Bush.