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Top Stories

• Ehrlich, Steele Defeated Despite Lies, Dirty Tricks, and Fraudulent Fliers Designed to Deceive African American Voters
• Utility Merger Canceled, O'Malley Vows to Fire PSC over Rate Hikes
• Minimum Wage Ballot Initiatives Win in 6 States
• Election Coverage in The Baltimore Sun      

Ehrlich, Steele Are Losers Despite Lies, Dirty Tricks, and Fraudulent Fliers Designed to Deceive African American Voters
The lies, negative ads and deceptive fliers that helped Bob Ehrlich win in 2002 couldn't steal him re-election last week, nor win the US Senate race for his Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Among their dirty tricks, the two conspired to fund and hand out slick pseudo "Official Voter Guides" Nov. 6-7 in mostly African American districts. The ballots bore the heading, "Ehrlich-Steele Democrats - These Are Our Choices," with photos of Kweisi Mfume and other prominent black Democrats implying wrongly that they endorsed the two desperate, undercover Republicans. They even bussed in and paid poor blacks from adjacent states $100/day plus meals to hand out the fliers.   

• GOP Fliers Apparently Were Part of Strategy: Md. Tactics Similar to Ones in 2002, The Washington Post, Nov.13
• Clear-eyed Voters Chose Leadership over Empty Hype, Baltimore Sun, Nov.15 
• See fraudulent "Democratic Sample Ballot"distributed by Ehrlich and Steele
• YouTube video interviews
• Scattered Allegations of Dirty Tricks, Electronic Voting, Voice of America Nov.13
• Homeless Man to GOP Pol: "No One Has the Right to Use Me That Way," tpmmuckraker.com, NY 

Utility Merger Canceled, O'Malley Vows to Fire PSC over Rate Hikes
Governor-elect Martin O'Malley said he'll fire all members of the state Public Service Commission for letting a record electric rate hike and planned utility merger go forward, contrary to their mandate to protect ratepayers' interests. One week earlier, BGE parent company, Constellation Energy, and Florida Power & Light announced the two cancelled their planned merger in the face of controversy and consumer opposition.

• O'Malley Plans to Fire Public Service Commission, WTOP, Nov.10
• Md.'s PSC: A Political Outcast With an Agenda, The Washington Post, Nov.11 
• Constellation, FPL Terminate Planned Merger, The Washington Post, Oct. 25 

Minimum Wage Ballot Initiatives Win in 6 States
Voters approved ballot initiatives Nov. 7 to increase the minimum wage in six states: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Ohio. That brings the total to 29 states now mandating a minimum wage higher than the federal $5.15/hour! The new Democratic majority in Congress has made raising the federal minimum wage, shamefully unchanged since 1997, a top priority.

And in the city of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, voters approved a Living Wage law that sets a minimum of $9.30 per hour with health and childcare benefits and $10.55 per hour without benefits for city employees and employees of companies with service contracts with the city. Arkansas is the home state to ACORN, the grassroots network that collaborated with the AFL-CIO to win most of the initiatives. It's also home state to Wal-Mart, the retail giant whose stock prices fell in response to Democratic gains in Congress and state legislatures nationwide.

• Minimum-Wage Increases Sweep to Victory, The Associated Press, Nov. 8
• Map of 29 states now with minimum wage >$5.15, Economic Policy Institute
• City Eyes Effects of Ordinance, The Pine Bluff Commercial, AR, Nov.12
• Wal-Mart shares drop after Democrats Win, Reuters, KPLS-TV - Lake Charles, LA, Nov. 8

Election Results Coverage in The Baltimore Sun