Word: howard
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...Rudd took on what appeared to be an unenviable challenge when he became leader of the Australian Labor Party in December last year. It was to sell himself to the Australian people in time for an election - due within a year - that would pit him against Prime Minister John Howard, who, after a decade in office, had come to be regarded by many, including himself, as the natural leader of the country...
While many assume Howard's status as Prime Minister will save him on his own northern Sydney seat even if the Government is defeated, others see it differently. "There's nothing special about Bennelong," says election analyst Antony Green. "If the Government falls, my view is that Bennelong will fall with it." Having made history in so many personally gratifying ways as the country's second longest-serving Prime Minister, Howard may depart politics in circumstances that would surely leave him hollow - paired with the long-forgotten Stanley Bruce as the only Australian P.M. to lose his seat...
Outsmarted by Howard on numerous fronts, Labor has been clever this time in the battle for Bennelong. In the broader fight, Howard was always going to be hard-pressed holding off the fresh-faced Opposition leader Kevin Rudd. Knowing that task would be even tougher if Howard could be distracted by a tough contest on his home turf, Labor announced in February that its candidate in Bennelong would be Maxine McKew, a distinguished, high-profile former television journalist. The partner of Bob Hogg, a former national secretary of the Labor Party, McKew still doesn't get close to Howard...
...Bennelong hub of Eastwood mall, constituents say they are enthralled by the ever-smiling McKew. "She's like a beauty queen," says Paul Besson, 57, who admits his dislike of Howard is so strong that "I would vote for Maxine even if she had a forked tail." An art promoter who asks to be identified only as Peter says he's voted for Howard in the past but not at the last election of 2004, and he won't be this time. While most politicians are loose with the truth, Peter says, Howard's dishonesty extends to matters...
...Howard Government gives the impression of being baffled as to how it could be facing electoral defeat at a time when the Australian economy, despite the strain of rising interest rates, is in fine shape. Of all the factors working against the Government, among the most potent is widespread distrust of its employer-friendly overhaul of the system for dealing with labor and workplace disputes. And here the dreaded parallel with the unfortunate Stanley Bruce becomes more stark. Bruce's demise in 1929 followed a period of industrial mayhem involving miners and laborers. For the perception that he's messed...