bill baroni, the first thing the replacement had to get done was get a huge horrible round of press for what the "daily news" is calling her mele mouthed statement, excusing new jersey's decision not to raise the minimum wage when all the other airport workers across the bridges and across the tunnels in new york are getting a raise. doesn't look good when you do this at the local level. it doesn't look good when you do this at the federal level. and between now and november and beyond, democrats are going to try to play the popularity of this issue into not just their political benefit but into a political headache for any republican anywhere who finds themselves having to explain a la john raese in west virginia and joe miller in alaska what it is exactly they do not like about paying people enough to live on. pollsters are already looking at the most high-profile senate race of this midterm year and how the minimum wage may factor into that race. the highest profile senate race this year is mitch mcconnell's re-election race in kentucky.