Gov. Rendell surveyed the beaming faces who lobbied, raised money and picketed to encourage recalcitrant legislators to pass the first minimum-wage increase in nine years: $2 per hour phased in by next July 1.

"Think back to 1997," said Rendell, up for re-election but acting like a game-show host. "Anyone know what a gallon of gas was in 1997?"

Whoever answered correctly, he promised, would win two seats to the next 76ers championship game.

He called on several raised hands inside Sharon Baptist Church on Conshohocken Avenue near Monument Road, Wynnefield, where yesterday he signed the historic legislation enacting the wage increase.

Rendell found a winner. "$1.55 [per gallon]? Close enough," he said.

"We asked minimum-wage workers to endure nine years without a wage increase," said Rendell. "Is paying [a worker] less than the federal poverty level right?"

The new state law will increase minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.25 on Jan. 1, 2007, followed by another increase to $7.15 per hour on July 1, 2007.

Businesses with less than 10 full-time workers will raise wages more slowly: $5.65 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2007; $6.65 on July 1, 2007; and $7.15 on July 1, 2008.

Of the 423,000 Pennsylvanians eligible for the raise, the governor said, 40,000 are in Philadelphia, 14,000 in Bucks County, 15,000 in Montgomery County, 13,000 in Delaware County and almost 10,000 in Chester County.

Of all the bills signed into law, Rendell said, "Nothing gives me more satisfaction than this one."

Then, he singled out legislators, union leaders, and the grass-roots effort by advocacy groups for their contributions.

State Sen. Tina Tartaglione and state Rep. Mark Cohen, both Philadelphia Democrats, introduced versions of the minimum-wage bills. The House bill passed; the Senate bill remained in the Labor and Industry Committee.

Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, worked in tandem with Tartaglione and enlisted 23 other Senate co-sponsors in an attempt to break the logjam.

Rendell cited John Dodds for an "awesome job" as head of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, which created the Raise the Minimum Wage Coalition in February 2005.

Dodds, considered the "quarterback" of the effort, said the coalition grew from 15-20 organizations in Philadelphia to 38 statewide. He and others raised money to run radio ads in key districts, such as Lebanon County, where the Senate Majority leader, David J. Brightbill, lives. The ads were aimed at getting low-wage workers to ask politicians to vote for the bill.

Protesters showed up at Brightbill's office in Lebanon County, accusing him of bottling up the legislation in committee.

They also targeted Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer in Altoona and Sen. Joseph Scarnati, chairman of the Labor and Industry Committee.

This was happening at the same time an angry electorate was upset that legislators had voted a wage increase for themselves in the middle of the night.

So advocates reminded voters that legislators received eight raises in the same period they had voted none for low-wage workers.

Normally, federal legislation sets the minimum wage in the U.S., such as the current $5.15 enacted in 1997 during the Clinton administration.

"It was clear the Bush administration wasn't going to do it. [U.S. Sen. Rick] Santorum voted it down at least 12 times," said Tom Cronin, president of AFSCME District Council 47, which worked locally to increase the wage.

Rendell said he hoped the increase would push up wages of other low-income workers.

Outside a homeless shelter on Ridge Avenue yesterday, Eulis Allen, 59, said, "It costs $17 a week for a [SEPTA] TransPass. It'll help pay for that."

Byron Mitchell, 23, who earns income through temporary work agencies, said the more money he can make at one job, the fewer jobs he'll have to work.