Doddcasting – Canberra Reporting

So, the last week of the election begins. For the pundits, exhaustion sets in and it’s only the crazy brave and the well organised who dare to rest.

The remaining time is counted not in sleeps, but in news cycles.

From last night, it would appear the ALP would go into their launch today without the ghosts of their past causing further instability. Latham’s a lunatic, and even if he’s right, so what. And Kevin came off as a self-serving Kim Hughes Bob Hawke- style loser who you think we should be glad is gone.

This is grand final week in politics. The parties are going for the bogan vote and the ‘don’t knows’ are coming in from the cold.

Strangely, in politics, it’s the bogans who come in at the last minute. While in football, the people who know who they’re voting for often don’t pick a team until the final week.

After the eliminations and recriminations, this is the week of the parade, the special breakfasts, a cross dressing footy show and when everyone goes hell for leather on election day.

There’s so many election ads on the TV. They’re cheap, they’re misleading and you often wonder who they benefit. The ALP has focused entirely on the message of the economy, which today’s newspoll has them at only 38 per cent in the ‘best party to lead’ category.

The Libs’ ‘stand up for re-action’ jingle is garbage and has people’s dogs walking out the front door into traffic.

Forget truth in advertising. Surely these ads should be made to comply with some sort of minimum standards.

They’re not very funny. But what is funny is that the ALP are launching their campaign today – I’d hate to know what we’ve endured for the past four weeks.

Abbott’s dropped his four point pledge to just one, ‘Stop the boats’. And just wait, he’ll be declaring ‘stop the toasts’ after the election, and ‘stop the roast’ the next day at a BBQ, and people will shout ‘stop the host’ when he gives speeches or cures pathogenic diseases and ‘stop the tote’ in Collingwood.

No seriously, we have an election where one side is contesting the ground where they’ll shoot people for trying to come and live in Australia. And today we learn that Abbott’s going to be turning around the boats himself.

While Gillard’s message is simpler, stop the Ab-boat.