Sorry…who is sorry?

Only 15 days to go before us voters get the chance to elect the Government for the next 3 years, yippee! Who will it be? On that day there can naturally only be one winner. As we get closer to poling day the policies and pork barrelling of both parties will become more evident.

If there can be a winner from this week then it has to be the Kruddster. Not only did he tip ‘Efficient’ to win the Melbourne Cup, he also chose the same horse in the office sweep! Drinks and earwax are on you then, Kev?

As for our visually ageing PM, ala Little Johnny, it’s not been a good week. Not only did he fail to choose the winning horse in the Melbourne Cup, he also had to contend with an unprecedented interest rate rise during an election campaign. From official statistics this is the 10th consecutive interest rate rise and the 6th in the past three years. In fact, Reserve Bank statistics show that rates were lower for the latter part of the Keating years than they are now!

To try to claw back some of the sympathy vote our PM apologised ‘sort of’ for the rate rise on Wednesday. Now, apologies are rarer from the PM than good food in Economy Class on a plane! However, by yesterday Little Johnny had changed his tact by stating that he was ‘sorry’ for the pain the interest rate rise will cause but not for the rate rise itself!

Confused, we at Keys 07 are! Anyway, whether it is the best message to portray to the electorate or not remains to be seen. One of the main reasons that Little Johnny has trouble with the ‘s’ word is probably because he is a closet Elton John fan. Yes, our PM does have some musical taste (though this could be debatable). Apparently our PM’s fave song is ‘sorry seems to be the hardest word’ by the flamboyant performer.

Next week heralds the official launch of the Election campaign by all parties. Now that is going to be riveting stuff!

And they're off!

Well finally after what seems a lifetime the Prime Minister has called the Federal Election for 24th November. Already we have seen the political parties promising this, that, and in some cases, the other!

Little Johnny and Big Pete are quick off the mark by promising tax cuts for all! It's amazing how many times this promise (aka hoary old chestnut) comes out at elections. How will the Ruddster respond? Time will certainly tell.

The Prime Minister had stated that there will be one televised debate only. However, shock horror, there will be no appearance of the worm (some say that it is truly the star of the debate). Expect the 'Pro Worms are good' group to protest outside the PM's marginally held electoral office over the next week or so.

So will the 24th of November by lucky for the Government? Well, a quick trawl on the 'net reveals that the following events have happened on this day:

• River Thames froze in 1434 & 1715 (no chance of this happening nowadays - Ed).
• Destructive eruption of Vesuvius in 1759.
• Birth of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula in 1847.
• Radio Belgium's first transmission in 1923.
• Ireland votes for independence from the UK in 1948.
• Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 (or did he? - Ed).
• Miss Teenage America Pageant starts in 1973 (hooray - "I want world peace etc" - Ed).
• Test cricket debut of Richie Richardson in 1983.
• The end of the world according to the Ukranian Sect of the White Brotherhood in 1993.
• Karrie Webb wins LPGA tour championship in 1996.

So you can see there aren't any omens good or bad for the Liberal Party, or indeed the opposition. What you can be assured of, however, is lots and lots of advertising. Expect an increase in pregancies over the next 5 weeks or so as viewers switch off.

Over the course of the election we will bring you all the news, views, gossip and fashion trends of our beloved Pollies!

Stay tuned.....