Word: latham
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...Howard asked at the start of the election campaign. The answer has not been in doubt for a long time, given that the Labor alternatives have been miserable. According to a Newspoll published last week, 58% of those questioned said Howard was more capable of handling the Australian economy (Latham was preferred by 27%). Since the conservative government was elected in March 1996, the economy has grown by one-third. Unemployment has fallen from 8.5% to 5.7%. Mortgage rates have dropped from 10.5% to 6.5%. Inflation has been sleeping in a hammock, slung at a rate...
...Since becoming leader of the federal parliamentary Labor party nine months ago, Latham has been thrust to the center of Australia's public sphere. His arrival has revived interest in politics - and Labor's electoral prospects. On Oct. 9, voters will have the chance to promote Latham, and tap the Prime Minister on the shoulder. But outside of the rarefied world of politicians and the professionals who live off them, Latham is barely known. The electorate may have formed some simple views about his personal style: intemperate and irreverent, aggressive and sincere, ordinary and extraordinary. But if they know anything...
...surprising aspect of Latham's short time at the Labor helm has been his political outmaneuvering of a P.M. with 30 Canberra years on the clock. Think M.P.s' superannuation entitlements and the amendments forced on Howard over the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. These episodes - and several others - reveal that Latham has terrific instincts for the nitty-gritty of daily political combat. But the truly amazing feature of the rise of Latham during an election year has been that the one-time policy wonk has opted for slogans rather than details, symbols instead of costed measures. We've heard...
...policies until the official campaign. This approach, which has become known as the "small-target" strategy, had worked before. It is identical to the one that Howard employed in 1996 to win office. But after almost six years, voters did not know what alternative leader Beazley stood for. Latham once vowed never to adopt such a negative ploy. Yet, here he is, with under 40 days to articulate and sell an integrated platform to a public that is, at best, merely curious about him and his party. Winning the campaign skirmishes and crafting clever attack lines will not be enough...
...between a government that people know in their bones and an alternative team whose new leader dispenses good vibes and pixie dust. There is a feeling that two well-matched candidates are about to extend themselves; there will be a struggle across the generations, to be sure. And, if Latham and Howard stay true to their harsher selves, it will be a fight without sentimentality or sanctimony...