You can read plenty in the papers this morning about John Howard, the
Premiers and the balance of power – yet it was a little strange to read
about the PM congratulating Mike Rann and Paul Lennon on their election wins yesterday morning.

Or does the PM need to bask in a bit of reflected glory at the moment? The SMH took an interesting look at how the PM is playing in the burbs on Saturday – and how he’s keeping the marginals on side.

IR is also in the news today. Looking at how the seats lined up in
South Australia on Saturday, it appears as if some of the electorates that
saw the biggest swings to Labor are chockers with aspirational voters
mortgaged to the hilt and maxed on the plastic.

Many of these voters rely on local industries to service their debt –
industries that will now be able to ditch them at a moment’s notice.

The editorial in the Oz
today talks about popular pragmatism. It’s more like a bob each way.
It’s safe to vote Labor in your state because Uncle John in Canberra
controls the economy – and you want to vote Labor in your state because
Uncle John can be nasty old bast*rd at times.