Condi Commands Same Speaking Fee as Ex-Boss

$150,000 price tag shows Bush may not be biggest star of his own administration

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 17, 2009 12:47 PM CDT

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Condi Commands Same Speaking Fee as Ex-Boss — It costs $15,000 to get David Plouffe, architect of President Obama%u2019s historic presidential campaign, to deliver a speech. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast,File)

Condoleezza Rice isn't playing second fiddle to George W. Bush any longer: The former secretary of state charges a $150,000 speaking fee—the same as her old boss, The Hill reports. Rice will even get a jump on the former president later this month when she addresses the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan a month before he plans to.

The Washington Speakers Bureau reps Bush, Rice, and many other political heavyweights, including Laura Bush, who charges $75,000. David Plouffe, who steered President Obama to victory, costs $15,000—half of James Carville’s fee but more than Paul Begala’s $9,000 quote. All fees are negotiable, but Tucker Carlson still called his reported $10,000 fee “untrue.”
(Read more Condoleezza Rice stories.)

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