A living wage will never exist. It is impossible to think that if you raise the living wage to $7 (Kerry) or $10 (Nader), that the price of all goods would not go up in porportion to the wage increase. Think about it this way, minimum wage increased from 4.25 to 4.75 and prices for everything went up, the it increased to 5.15, and the cost of living went up again, raise minimum wage to 7 or 10 dollors an hour and the cost of living will be outragous. Raise minimum wage to 7 an hour, then go to a fast food restraunt and it will cost you aproximately 20% more for your food, since it costs about 20% more in labor.
Why on earth would people actually want the rent on their apartment to go up (if min is 10, rent would double). Not to mention the cost of child care, which is outragously high in many places, would go even higher again. I have so far never been able to see a benifit from raising the minimum wage, only higher prices.