You're still in the business of making "brave" predictions I see.
With regards to your comments on Rudd I am sad to have to agree with you that his policy approach has been disappointing. My only hope is that the Labor Party will "correct" some of these policies once in power.
That said, my view, and this would seem to be borne out by the elctorate, is that political parties must take responsibility for their failures. In particular, the Howard Govt made mistakes in entering the Iraq war, in being asleep at the wheel on climate change and in allowing our educational infrastructure to erode such that we now have critical skills shortages. These critical errors should not go unpunished and the public see regime change as a way of achieving this without too much risk since Rudd is making no threatening noises.
Of course I and others would like to see some significant changes from the Howard regime and only time will tell if these come to pass.
Your comments on relative ministerial skills between parties sound somewhat partisan to me given that the Rudd cabinet has yet to be tested and that the Howard cabinet to a man (and woman) have shown themselves to be duplicitous, arrogant and incompetent.
With regard to the Senate, again I must disagree. Here in the ACT there is an excellent chance that the Greens will replace the Libs Humphries seat. Other Greens pick ups will result in a Green balance of power.
