Raising the minimum wage hits an excellent sweet spot: It's great policy, and it's great politics as well. It combats poverty, makes work pay ... and it's popular. Which makes it an excellent issue for Democrats to push in 2014, as they're planning to do:
In a series of strategy meetings and conference calls among [White House officials, unions, and liberal advocacy groups] in recent weeks, they have focused on two levels: an effort to raise the federal minimum wage, which will be pushed by President Obama and congressional leaders, and a campaign to place state-level minimum wage proposals on the ballot in states with hotly contested congressional races. [...]
“It puts Republicans on the wrong side of an important value issue when it comes to fairness,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the president’s senior adviser. “You can make a very strong case that this will be a helpful issue for Democrats in 2014. But the goal here is to actually get it done. That’s why the president put it on the agenda.”
States with possible minimum wage ballot initiatives include Alaska, Arkansas, South Dakota, and New Mexico, while, at the federal level, President Obama will raise the issue in a series of speeches at the same time as Congress is considering it. Sadly, some Democratic senators like Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Begich of Alaska aren't getting behind the effort, whether due to personal conservatism or fear of opposition from well-funded business interests. But guys, really, raising the minimum wage isn't just supported by an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a strong majority of independents, it's supported even by a majority of Republicans. Get with the majority of voters and the majority of elected Democrats and support this.
Every time the minimum wage goes up in one state, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of workers get a raise. If putting a raise on the ballot in states with contested elections also helps elect Democrats to the House and Senate, increasing the chances that Congress will raise the federal minimum wage (and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and other bills that help workers), so much the better.
