The Senate may hold a vote Wednesday on Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin’s bill to raise the minimum wage in three steps to reach $10.10 per hour by 2016. All 55 Democrats (including two “independents”) will almost surely vote for the bill, but few if any Republicans will join them. But the point isn’t to pass the bill; it’s to create a show over voting on it so as to motivate Democrats’ voting base. The AP reports that, “according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, women and young people make up disproportionate portions of the 3.3 million people who earned $7.25 or less last year. Both groups traditionally tilt toward Democrats, who would love to lure them to the polls this fall as they fight to retain Senate control.” Never mind that raising the minimum wage will hurt these very voters; Democrats can blame the GOP for “not caring.”