I tend to agree with you when you say:"Very dissapointing...

I tend to agree with you when you say:
"Very dissapointing efforts by the Liberals so far , but Im sure there is something up the sleeve that may just turn things around . At the moment the parties only hope is a tight loss .Really dissapointing ..the mistakes have been unbelievable"

I tend to think that John Howard's team has been blind-sided by the quite audacious, "asymetric warfare" tactics adopted by the union bosses. This strategy seems seems to be very well prepared and does suggest a level of planning far superior to what has been normal for these union thugs and for the labor party in recent history. The complete and total disarray of the labor party is one reason such a complete and audacious plan was not expected by John Howard's team.

John Howard obviously expected to be able to go to the polls based on his sucessful record and for a continuation of basic policies with some extra carrots added to pull a few more swing voters.

The union bosses and rudd have managed to neutralize much of John Howard's advantage by their "me-too" photocopied policy statement strategy. This would not have been possible without a cooperative media driving the message of policy equivalence in a continuous media barrage around the clock.

I think John Howard's team has been caught unawares by this strategy and hopefully is in the process of adjusting the neutralize and overcome the union bosses and this asymetric warfare strategy.