The Coalition got as much milage out of the story as they could - with stories about "secret pacts" and numerous attacks on Gillard. I do wonder if these continued attacks on her are counter-productive for the Coalition. She seems to be a good media-performer and well-liked by the public - she even outrated Costello as preferred PM .

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A couple of things caught my eye today.

First up, we saw News Corp papers blaring stories about Labor's hubris and arrogance - with posts already being carved up by the government-in-waiting.

"CONFIDENT Labor MPs have begun carving up the spoils of office, even before John Howard has fired the election starter's gun." screams the Herald Sun. Variations of this story were run in all the daily News Ltd tabloids.

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The state of the News Corp media this week reveals an almost bipolar approach to dealing with their polling data. Remember their reporting last week of the Newspoll which showed 55-45 for Labor (still a landslide victory any way you do the numbers), where they spun it as a Lazarus-like comeback for the Coalition? Well, this time it's Galaxy Poll with 56-44 for Labor and headlines like:

"KEVIN Rudd is emerging bullet-proof as voters ignore recent blunders and accusations against him, an exclusive opinion poll has found. - Clinton Porteous

"VOTERS don't believe the Government has the best "team" to lead the country, an exclusive Galaxy poll reveals today." - Malcolm Farr

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First up, we have news of a possible surgical strike on Iran with Australian support, according to respected journalist, Seymour Hersh. Article here. He says that "President George W. Bush has requested the Joint Chiefs of Staff revise plans for a possible attack on Iran, with the focus on raids against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which Washington accuses of targeting US forces in Iraq,".

Somewhat strange that the primary target is the Revolutionary Guard Corps and not the nuclear program. Hersh goes on to say that "Israeli leaders were dismayed that Washington had decided not to target Iran's nuclear program and French officials had expressed doubts about the possible limited air strikes".

One wonders what Howard is thinking in supporting more intervention in the Middle East after such a disastrous campaign in Iraq. The ramifications of an airstrike on Iran could be huge - destabilisation of international oil markets, revenge attacks by Iran's allies (Hezbollah), a massively destabilised Iraq situation. This is definitely something to keep in mind as one of those 'events' that could affect the course of the election campaign. In such a situation, "the Liberal party may want to consider a surgical strike on John Howard" (credit to Aristotle for that gem).

At the Grand Final, many people have reported Howard being booed "It's the Clive Churchill presentation. John Howard is greeted with more boos than a weedy security guard popping a beach ball at the cricket." Not a good omen for the Man of Steel - though - to his credit - he managed to maintain a grin!

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