So here we go. Australia's political leaders are on the home straight, the finish line is in sight and Prime Minister Julia Gillard leads Opposition leader Tony Abbott by a nose.
I have to confess, it's been a rather strange election campaign to date with a relatively new Prime Minister up against a relatively new opposition leader and after the GFC, there just isn't the usual bribes being tossed about to entice voters.
It's also just Australia's third winter election in history which means there's no daylight saving here, so we should know the winner quite soon after counting starts at 6pm on August 21.
The key focus will be Queensland, home of Kevin Rudd. Remember him? The man who used to lead Australia before he was knifed in the back by Julia Gillard.
Queenslanders are a tough crowd to win over, especially when you assassinate their favourite son. Rudd was just the second Queenslander ever to be elected Prime Minister of Australia and the disposing of him has gone down badly there.
There are ten seats in Queensland under a margin of 5% so if Labor can stop the swing and hang onto those seats then it knows there probably won't be enough seats to fall elsewhere in the country to allow the coalition to form Government.
That's why Labor party officials decided to hold the party campaign launch in Queensland's largest city, Brisbane.
The Opposition's Tony Abbot is desperate to convince the electorate that Labor needs to be tossed out of office. He's been trying to get the point across that the Government has been badly organised and poorly run. However as the campaign has gone on, this has bitten less in the electorate.
Another problem for Abbott is that Australians just don't vote out first term Governments. There has not been a first term Government defeated here since the Great Depression 80 years ago.
If Labor party can avoid any disaster in the last week of campaigning then, with the advantage of incumbency and the fact that Australians don't vote out Governments after just one term, those factors should give Labor the advantage to hang onto office.
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