Dems Pounce on Republicans' Minimum Wage Remarks
October 4, 2010 10:45 AM
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
Updated, 1:32 p.m.
Democrats believe a handful of GOP Senate contenders in pivotal races have opened themselves up to a lethal line of attack on the minimum wage.
As of Monday, 4 Republicans running for the Senate in Alaska, Connecticut, West Virginia and Washington have made controversial statements opposing the minimum wage. To be sure, some have gone farther than others, but Democrats believe that the statements are political death wishes as unemployment holds steady around 10%.
Democrats view the issue as a base energizer, particularly among union members. They also plan to use the statements to show that Republicans are out of touch and out of the mainstream for their states - a line of attack they have already been using in most of these states. Don't be surprised to see these statements in campaign ads soon.
Of course, it remains to be seen how effective this tack will be. In 2 cases - West Virginia and Alaska - the Republicans unequivocally stated their opposition to a federal minimum wage. In the other 2 - Connecticut and Washington - the candidate delivered a more nuanced view.
On Monday, Alaska Senate contender and attorney Joe Miller (R) was the latest to comment on the minimum wage. Miller told ABC News that "there should not be" a federal minimum wage. "That is not within the scope of the powers that are given to the federal government," he said.
Miller's remarks came just days after former WWW CEO and Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon (R) made some rather obscure remarks about re-evaluating the minimum wage. "The minimum wage now in our country, I think we've set that and a lot of people have benefited from it in our country, but I think we ought to review how much it ought to be, and whether or not we ought to have increases in the minimum wage," McMahon said.
Businessman John Raese, who is running for the Senate in West Virginia, has been most adamant in opposing the minimum wage -- even though West Virginia has a large blue-collar population. Raese has also flat out called for eliminating the minimum wage, and Gov. Joe Manchin (D) attacked Raese for the statement in a recent campaign ad.
In Washington, Republican Dino Rossi has a checkered history on the minimum wage. When he ran for governor in '08, he said he would support a lower training wage for teenagers and Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) accused him of wanting to lower the minimum wage in attack ads (a charge that Rossi denied). Rossi has, however, espoused positions from the Washington Policy Center which included blocking increasing the minimum wage.
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