WITH NO CHANCE OF PASSAGE, DEWINE VOTES FOR MINIMUM WAGE HIKE. HEY, WHAT ABOUT OHIO?

Mike Dewine was one of eight Republican Senators to vote "Yes" yesterday on Ted Kennedy's proposal to raise the national minimum wage. With those eight -- four of whom, like Dewine, have re-election races this year -- the bill actually passed 52-48. But it needed a supermajority of 60 votes under the Senate's budget legislation rules, so of course it was dead from the start.

A cynic might see Dewine's vote as a cost-free way to inoculate himself on an issue that may well be center stage in Ohio this November. The Ohio Fair Minimum Wage issue is very likely to get on the ballot, with Sherrod Brown as a loud, proud supporter. Dewine can't stop the issue from raising Democratic turnout, but he's just made it more difficult for Brown to paint him as a villain on the issue.

But let's lower the cynicism setting for a minute. This isn't Dewine's first vote for a minimum wage hike... not exactly. Maybe he really feels in his heart that it's time for minimum-wage workers in Ohio to get a few raises.

If so, there's an easy way for him to prove his sincerity. The Ohio Fair Minimum Wage proposal would create a state requirement starting at $6.85 an hour with annual cost of living bumps. That's virtually identical to the proposal Dewine just voted for (three annual steps to $7.25).

So why doesn't Senator Dewine endorse the petition drive and promise to support the issue when it's on the ballot in November?

Of course, those partisan Democrats behind the petition campaign probably haven't asked for his support. But there's no reason to let them call the shots, right? And unlike the futile vote Dewine cast yesterday in the Senate, his active endorsement of the state issue might really help it to pass -- and would really neutralize the issue in the Senate race.

Seems like a pretty obvious move... assuming, of course, that Dewine really wants the minimum wage to go up.

(To prove my sincerity: If anyone in the Dewine campaign reads this, I promise to attend his Ohio Fair Minimum Wage endorsement press conference, blog the heck out of it, and importune all my fellow "progressive Ohio bloggers" to do the same. Really.)