In 2004, I spent part of the summer in the Tampa area of Florida, organizing a voter registration drive. I was amazed by how many Floridians would tell perfect strangers that they were felons and could not vote. Later on, I moved up to Pennsylvania and organized Montgomery County for the dreaded ACORN. But I kept an eye on Florida on election night. We lost the presidential race, and we lost in the Tampa area, too. I didn’t like seeing that. What really leaped out at me, however, were the results of a proposed constitutional amendment to peg the state’s minimum wage to the federal inflation estimate. Even as Dubya was beating Kerry by 400,000, the very same voters voted (71%-29%) for the amendment with a margin of over 3 million. Roughly 1.2 million Bush voters also voted to raise the minimum wage.
I learned from that. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) did not.
They should have learned that raising the minimum wage is wildly popular even among a significant percentage of conservatives in Southern states. Even today, the minimum wage in Florida is only $7.93, which is a fourteen cent (2%) raise over last year that will give a 40-hour worker an extra $5.60 a week.
Politically, no matter what kind of ads the Republicans run, there is no reason to oppose a minimum wage hike. Maybe you might not like the policy, or you could be totally beholden to corporations like Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. But anyone who is forcing Harry Reid to stall on this issue out of fear? That person deserves to lose their seat. They are too stupid to keep it.
If Democrats lose the Senate this year, it will be because of Warner, Landrieu, and Hagan–even if they themselves keep their seats. And the other Senators who acted likewise and had the good sense to retire or were promoted out like Max Baucus. It will be because of their obstruction for the past five years. After the Iran debacle on the Menendez bill, it’s getting harder and harder for me to see voting for Hagan. The Republican is going to have to be so bad that Republicans vote against him (and Thom Tillis might fit that before the end of the legislative session) in order for Hagan to win.
Republicans are beginning to advocate that Congress get paid minimum wage. Even though it affects the next Congress and not this one, the idea does have merit.
How about need based Congressional pay (including perqs and benefits)? As few Senators would qualify for a single dollar, that would free up some money to give the non-wealthy, public servants in Congress a legitimate raise or at least a DC housing stipend.
I don’t like these drives to cut or eliminate Congresses pay. The only thing that would do is lock out any chance of a regular person running, it would definitely only be a job for the wealthy.
Have you looked at the Senate and a significant portion of the House lately? It’s already a job for the wealthy. That’s why “needs based salary” for members of Congress would an improvement. It’s too financially difficult to maintain a residence in one’s home state/district and one in DC on the current congressional salary except for those that are wealthy. Although a DC apartment housing stipend (or even public housing) might be even better. Assuming that half the members of Congress are wealthy or extremely wealthy and the other half lives on their salary and has little to no wealth, public housing (very modest apartments) could be constructed and paid for in two years by slashing the pay to the wealthy members of Congress to zero. If more non-wealthy, more ordinary Americans run and win seats in Congress, we can build more public housing for them.
You’ll wind up with the mother of all expenses scandals. The UK do compensation of MP’s more or less this way, and the results were dire.
Didn’t propose anything like the housing compensation system used by UK MPs. Means tested public housing with full public disclosure to confirm that it’s nothing more than decent basic housing would be exceedingly easy to administer. Nor would means tested congressional salaries be complex, difficult, and/or vulnerable to fraud. We’re only talking about 541 employee accounts.
Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) did not.
Don’t forget Senator Mark Pryor(Walmart-AR).
Didn’t Tampa have the butterfly ballot?
No and no.
It was Palm Beach County that had the butterfly ballot, and that was in 2000.
My bad.
I worked in Tampa on GOTV on election day. didn’t know enough about it to assess the results. I was surprised though as was our team captain who knew FL very well.
Since Tennessee auto workers were spooked into thinking they would lose their jobs if they voted for a union, might not some minimum wage workers fear losing their jobs if the minimum wage is raised? Especially since Republicans and Fox News keep screaming this?
The ability of Southern voters to vote against their own financial interests never ceases to amaze me. As the poorest region of the country, one would assume them to be a Left wing Democratic stronghold, instead of the opposite.
As the Booman Tribune resident Randian would point out, Southerners are smart and their voting behaviors are highly sophisticated.
They vote for some interest it’s not the one we think they should.
Calling people stupid is definitely not going make them vote for us.
I didn’t say they were stupid, but that would be a natural conclusion for someone who would deny themselves a decent wage and health care just so that a woman he doesn’t even know can’t have an abortion or because the President is black.
Maybe I should change my sig to “It’s the economy, Stupid. For those who don’t know the word ‘economy’, it’s your paycheck and savings balance stupid!”
Meet Katrina Pierson GOP-Tea Party candidate for Congress. Not only a woman but a black woman.
Being a Palinbot isn’t even the worst part:
She became politically aware and active because Obama didn’t wear a made in China flag pin? How is that not stupid?
Have no idea what “murder of children that survived an abortion” means but it’s probably nothing but an anti-abortion talking point.
To repeat what I said here.
National Voter Turnout (Eligible Voters):
2010 – 41.7%
2006 – 40.4%
2002 – 40.5%
1998 – 38.1%
1994 – 41.1%
1990 – 38.4%
1986 – 38.1%
1982 – 42.1%
It’s not that Dems don’t vote. Hardly anybody votes. (Turnout is even worse in off-off years. We came this ->|<- close to disaster last year in Virginia despite the pre-election day polling.) Thus the enthusiasm factor plays big. In 2010 the GOP voters were enthusiastic, in 2006 the Dem voters were.
GOTV operations have to have something – anything – to get people excited or determined to vote. And guess what? “I don’t suck as bad as the other guy/gal” doesn’t do it. Have to have a national plan and message and a message cut-to-fit for each Congressional District saying how the plan relates to the CD.
Works for the Democratic Party elites, campaign folks, and pundits all the way to their banks. When they win, they take the credit and when they lose, they blame the stupid voters.
It actually doesn’t work, some campaign chests might fill up on that but you don’t win votes that way.
Yet people on this blog advocate it all the time.
You’re assuming that winning is everything to them. Sure, it beats losing because that means more power and money. But losing still means money and the position to lead a future charge.
It’s like that scene in “Wolf of Wall Street” where the new kid is instructed that stockbrokers don’t know and don’t care if a stock goes up or down because they get a commission when customers buy or sell.
“If God had intended us to vote he would have given us candidates.” – Jay Leno