*) The “middle Australia” men and women of all ages who feature in the ALP’s television advertisements talking directly into the heads of viewers about their insecure causal wages, working nights and weekends for day rates, they haven’t seen their kids and their family is shot, the economic prosperity of the nation being talked about elsewhere doesn’t exist for them, and they are frightened to death about what a proven untrustworthy Howard (and or Costello) will do to them next if he’s elected again.

For what it’s worth I posted my own take on this on the Dead Roo’s site.

I know there are different views on this – not least from some of the commenters at Troppo – but I must say I find it odd that there is this idea that we should be proprietorial about out blogs. I guess I’m proprietorial in the sense that I like people visiting an contributing and thinking Troppo is worth the effort to visit. But if we can help others do their jobs, what exactly is the problem?

In the world of business I’m always surprised at how rarely firms – even firms that are in the same industry and are competing against each other in some major way – like to get customers – can nevertheless benefit from co-operating with each other. (And I’m not talking of collusion or ‘government relations’)

But I know views differ on this. Also I agree that I’m not that much a fan of the questions Christian is asking. I personally don’t like this hunting round for powerful people and what is inevitably associated with it – lionising them. But that’s what journos go for I guess. As the son of an academic and accordingly having been brought up in what seems now to be a very unworldly way, I’m always surprised at how little attention is given to the quality of what people say and how much is given to how important they are. But there you go. Sic transit gloria mundi and all that.

Surely a better question to ask is what will influence the election? Will interest rates trump education? Will the public care about the recent absurd probity tussle? Will the drought break – alleviating the environmenal problems in the voting public’s back garden? Will the unfolding Bush debacle taint Mr. Howard by association? Will there be a sudden swelling of Iraqi refugees on the Indonesian coast keen to test Mr. Howard’s commitments to the ‘Freedon of the Iraqi people’? Will Israel attack Iran? Will the jittery stockmarket tumble?

Once we know these things and all the others, then maybe we are in a position to say who is going to have the influence.