Word: latham
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...SOUTH PACIFIC AUSTRALIA: Who is Labor's Mark Latham and what does he want...
...been federal labor leader for 300 days. In that time, Mark Latham has got his comrades back in the race: he's revived interest in politics, not only within the professional class but among ordinary folks who are curious about the youthful leader. Latham's rise is the Australian political story of 2004. Even Coalition voters seem to approve of the way he is doing his job. Still, they don't know enough about him to be comfortable with the idea that he would make a better prime minister than John Howard...
When it seemed Labor had no one else to turn to, Latham positioned himself as a serious - albeit risky - option. As the last, best hope since the party lost government in March 1996, he has been indulged by his colleagues in an election year. So much so, in fact, that the factions that traditionally provide the ideological dynamite for Labor's creative self-destruction have taken a pause: it's the Mark Latham show. As a political act that veers from somber to slapstick, earthy to edgy, the new leader could fill all the channels on a satellite television network...
...Labor may be helped, of course, if Howard's decision to follow the U.S. into Iraq last year draws greater public anger or regret now. Between the bombing and their televised debate on Sept. 12, both Latham and the Prime Minister, who is shooting for his fourth straight election victory, demurred on that issue, saying it wasn't the time for political jousting. But even when issues closer to home, like interest rates and Medicare, reassert themselves in coming days, says pollster Gary Morgan, the Jakarta embassy attack will reverberate through the electorate more loudly even than the Bali massacre...
...attention as it tries to sell a swag of new policies, including its tax policy, released two days before the bombing and still a mystery to many voters. As long as this bombing, and national security generally, remains in the foreground, Labor will have a tough job, predicts Cameron. "Latham has a difficult package to sell, and one that's not just about money but about values and aspirations...