Who won the news cycle? Kev comes to the Coalition’s aid

It was probably always going to happen when Kevin Rudd made his first appearance on the hustings. It’s such an obvious story — how the sacked former Prime Minister is going to behave when he meets his constituents — that there was little that anybody could do to stop it featuring mightily in the media coverage. And so it proved and while the Rudd words for the cameras were impeccably correct, the impression left on viewers and listeners was the reminder of the way he was so recently deposed. All the Labor campaign bosses can hope now is that the fascination with this very human story does not last for long. For while it does, his replacement as Prime Minister will not get the hoped-for coverage.

Thus, the campaigning day ended up very much in the Coalition’s favour, with Tony Abbott really not having to do anything much. He provided some nice pictures for the nightly news, frolicking with a football, which left the impression that he too is concerned about education and that was about it. And a display that he does not take himself too seriously by appearing on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday with a wonderful line about Julia Gillard’s accent to give the viewers a smile.

Labor’s overall lead in the campaign is not much by my measure, with each side winning two days  with another tied. Virtually no change in the Crikey Election Indicator either.