Rudd has done it!

[Matilda]

Kevin Rudd has been elected as the new leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party by 49 votes to 39.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200612/s1803291.htm


This is such good news - Beazley has been like a dead weight on the Labor Party for too long. It's
time he quit politics altogether.

I hope Rudd takes the fight to Howard - Beazley has made the mistake of simply responding to
situations set up by Howard and never going on the attack. There's plenty to hit Howard with -
what a pity that he'll really have to wait until next year to make his run.

Wonder if Howard will chance an early election, before voters have a chance to get to know Rudd?

[RFKHumphreyObama]

1. 49-39 votes

Quite a convincing margin against an incumbent leader -probably a decisive indication of what a liability Beazley had become. It makes Anthony Albanese look like a bit of a goose with his bold proclamations about Beazley and his numbers. But then I don't like Albanese

I'm pleased with the result and very enthusiastic about Rudd. I've been an admirer of Rudd since before he entered Parliament in the late 1990s. I was devastated when he first lost his bid to enter Parliament in 1996 and over the moon when he succeeded in 1998. I'm slightly disappointed that, if he does make it to the top, he'll never have a chance to serve as Foreign Minister because I always thought that he'd make an excellent Foreign Minister.

Nevertheless Rudd has an uphill battle ahead of him -he can do it but it will be a VERY hard challenge to win back the required number of seats and to upstage whatever propaganda and RW garbage the government is going to spew out for its re-election campaign. But Rudd is much more capable than doing it than Beazley would have been able to IMO

Beazley should never have re-contested the leadership in the first place last year -then Rudd or whoever would have succeeded Latham would have more time to establish himself/herself. Better late than never I guess

[gemini_liberal]

2. *giggles* we all did it at once!

Still, I am very happy with this news. How well Rudd does over the Christmas break will define when Howard calls an election. If Rudd's honeymoon ends too abruptly, expect an early election. However, if Rudd remains popular, he is going to defer it to the later part of the year, all the while running an endless smear campaign against Rudd and taxpayer-funded promotional ad campaigns...this ain't gonna be easy...

[Matilda]

3. I've looked over Federal Election results

from 1943 until 2004 (only quickly, because I don't have too much time), and while it would take
a big swing to put Labor back in power next time, it's not impossible. It's interesting though
that the biggest recorded swings were from Labor to the Coalition - Fraser in 1975 and Howard in
1996.

http://www.australianpolitics.com/parliament/house/state-of-parties.shtml

Rudd also needs to pick up voters who've been supporting the minor parties in recent years, and
polling suggests that he can do that, if he keeps the momentum he currently has.

At least we can have some hope now, where there was none with Beazley.

And Beazley's brother died today - what a bummer of a day this is for him.