EXTRA: What would "Bartlet" do?

How would 'President Bartlet' get a minimum wage hike? And can he educate Pat Quinn on the matter? Photograph provided by state of Illinois

Am I the only one who learned of Gov. Pat Quinn's stunt Thursday to promote the idea of raising the minimum wage, and thought to myself, "Gee, has President Bartlet got old-looking!"

For Quinn made an appearance at a South Side church, with actor Martin Sheen (he is 73) in tow.

SHEEN DID HIS part to tout the idea of boosting the minimum wage in Illinois from $8.25 an hour to at least $10. Although I still think the Barack Obama rhetoric about making the minimum $10.10 is a bit cute.

I just wonder how much Sheen's presence really added to the event. How many got distracted.

And how many let their ideological leanings become so disgusted wiht the old "West Wing" program that they're going to disregard anything that got said? (Has that program really been off-the-air for seven years now?)

Maybe he'd be more persuasive if he could adopt his "Capt. Willard" persona from "Apocalypse Now." At the very least, maybe people would think they'd better vote for a higher minimum wage to avoid suffering the fate of actor Marlon Brando's "Col. Kurtz" character.

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