John Cranford, a columnist for CQ Weekly lays out a number of great reasons why its time to put politics aside and actually consider raising the minimum wage. Here are some of the fundamental numbers Cranford lays out:

Several states have already decided the federal minimum wage is too low and have set higher rates for their citizens. And since the nation has a 67-year history of raising the minimum, Congress undoubtedly will do so eventually. But Republicans are making what should be an easy economic decision into a political fight.

It has been more than eight years since Congress voted to raise the minimum wage to its current level, and in that time its purchasing power has fallen about 20 percent. The minimum wage is lower today in inflation-adjusted terms than at any time since 1950.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the minimum was enough to keep a family out of poverty. The $1.60 an hour that I earned in 1968 working in a St. Louis warehouse is worth about $8.69 in today’s dollars. I was lucky. That was the high point for the minimum wage, and I was still in high school. Still, it would have been difficult to support a family on that amount, yet some of my co-workers did just that.

Today the minimum wage is 40 percent less than it was four decades ago when adjusted to inflation. That's simply unacceptable. As Cranford notes, voter across the country -- even in "red" states -- believe this. Just look at Florida, where Bush won handily. 71% of the state chose to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation. Republicans need to get real on this issue and if they don't Dems need to hit them with it non stop.