Lyn,
I have to admit that I'm not that much interested in the polls, though I am interested in the media's obsession with them.

Gary,

It's interesting to think about what the media's obsession with the polls does to what Leigh calls our national conversation, given the role they're supposed to play in the public sphere.

In "The Civil Sphere" Jeff Alexander argues that by publishing opinion polls, the media tells us something about ourselves as a society, but at the moment they're just telling us about themselves.

Dear Mercurius,

Thanks for you wonderful letter :)

Unfortunately Santa will not be able to supply your full request of presents but please accept this shiny new bike.

Your Sincerely Santa

p.s. Ho Ho Ho

Lyn,
below is an example from the Sydney Morning Herald of your comment that:

'Whatever happens, the politically thinkable is no longer delimited by Howard's version of the possible, but the Costello and Rudd versions are still largely known unknowns.

The SMH reports that the Liberals fear they will lose a string of seats - even some held by wide margins - without the strong personal profile of the incumbents.An attempt to reverse the retirement decision of the South Australian MP Barry Wakelin hit a brick wall:

The fight to retain Mr Wakelin, who holds his giant outback seat by a 13.9 per cent margin, is an indication of the concern within the Coalition. It is the second safest Liberal seat in the state but the party's internal polling showed it would lose it to Labor unless Mr Wakelin reversed his decision to retire.The South Australian Liberal Party's state executive had been scheduled to hold an emergency meeting last night to reinstate Mr Wakelin. But the meeting was called off yesterday afternoon when Mr Wakelin, who had been talked into staying, changed his mind again and said he was going.

A rural seat with 13.9 per cent margin in SA is in such trouble the Liberal candidate forGrey,">http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/grey.htm">Grey, Rowan Ramsey, has been urged him to step aside.

Gary,

This election has put an end to the romantic idea that elections are won by the party with the best policies.

They might still be talking as though that's the case, and the rhetoric is still the same, but the winning of elections has very little to do governance.

According to some of News Ltd's Canberra Press Gallery journo's the writing is on the wall. The events of last week show that Rudd is weak and so a risk to the country, that the momentum is back with the Coalition and the signs are that Coalition is getting back in the race. The cracks have started to appear in the Rudd armour, so the strategy is want to drag this battle out and expose Rudd's obvious inexperience (weakness). So its only a question of time before Rudd is roasted slowly by the indestructable one.

Talk about possible possibles!

Lyn,
that the winning of elections has very little do with governance is surely right.

On the ALP side Kevin Rudd's team has used deliberate tactics all year to try to drive opinion one way or another just before major polls are conducted. They have spiked their positive, Rudd-rich television ads in the few days before the pollsters from Galaxy, Newspoll and Nielsen have gone into the field, launched negative attacks on the government or rolled out voter-friendly proposals.This has been done in a very disciplined and determined way.

Nan,
your example clearly shows that many journalists at News Ltd do little more than comment on how the spinmeisters are spinning possible possibles. Another example is Christopher Pearson's recent effort.

The The Bullring is much better.

Lyn
another example of possible possibles: Paul Sheehan and Glenn Milne over the past two days acting as the conduit for smear and innuendo.

The former on Julia Gillard in the SMH; the latter in the Herald Sun about a "fact" sheet on a married male Federal Government minister visiting gay bathhouses and sexually harassing other men.The latter is very much in the bag of possible possibles.

Nan,

"the indestructable one" That's an interesting myth isn't it? I'd argue the belief that Howard could not be beaten has had a powerful impact on our politics and our society for a long time now. Whether they're right or wrong, the polls have been important in shifting that belief.

On the Federal Minister question, I'm in two minds. On one hand sexuality is none of our business and Milne is being his usual, pathetic self. On the other hand, has the minister in question acted in any way against the interests of the gay community? What extent of honesty and accountability do we expect from politicians?

What do you think?

Gary,

Everything Rudd has done has been controlled to within an inch of its life. This is the same as introducting an unpopular bit of legislation just before a public holiday to avoid questions.

We'll never know I guess whether that was calculated to demoralise the Liberals, but it has. Because of the polls the Liberals and the public think the Liberals will lose, something that would be impossible to contemplate without the poll results.

It's not watertight though. Plenty of other stuff, the Northern Territory intervention, Haneef, the Mersey takeover, APEC and similar stuff have had our attention while Rudd was making announcements.

Les,

I would like an Australian approach to fisheries management that acknowledges the value of recreational fishing to the economy, including angling tourism. I would like fisheries policy to acknowledge the vast difference between the damage done by, say, commercial trawling in nurseries and recreational angling in the same areas.

By-catch should be given much more consideration, as should the wider impacts of longlining and other similar practices. And can somebody please point out that canning fish for catfood is not necessary?

Mmmm, fishionable material?
btw Lyn,
My cat wants me to assure you, not so...

Fishionable material. LOL. Very clever.

My dog suggested you have a word with your cat about the difference between necessities and luxuries.

I see we are both fortunate enough to be in possession of talking animals, Lyn.
The sad thing is, if we shared this knowledg with others, we should be shot off to a lunatic asylum.
Or at least a drunk-tank until the shakes eased a bit.