To look on the bright side, a majority of the Senate, including 8 Republicans, voted for the increase in the minimum wage–but the amendment failed because it needed a super-majority of 60 votes to pass. Of the 8 Republicans, two who voted for it–Mike DeWine of Ohio and Lincoln Chafee–are facing very difficult re-election bids (I’d say Chafee is toast and I’m also hoping Sherrod Brown, a great opponent of so-called “free trade,” dispatches DeWine).

I’m wondering whether Democrats in other Senate races will now make the “no” votes of other vulnerable Republicans an issue RIGHT AWAY. I can’t think of a starker difference between the spectacle of pro-business Republicans shilling for the elimination of the estate tax and pimping for executives who are trashing pensions, eliminating health care and keeping wages down at a time when people are really stretched thin VERSUS voting against the idea of raising the minimum wage for the first time in NINE YEARS so that a family working full-time doesn’t have to live in poverty.

In particular, I think the votes of the particularly repugnant Rick Santorum (PA) and Conrad Burns (MT) should be pounded on for the next several weeks.