The Nats ran a Presidential campaign around Springborg last time. Worked a treat, didn’t it

Rumour around town – which cab drivers are running with – is that Springborg wants to leave politics and his heart isn’t in the campaign.

Flegg has just about destroyed the Liberal campaign, making Beattie’s timing look very good indeed. It’s likely that he might only be a 4 week Liberal leader if current trends hold – assuming Catalbiano retains his seat and can knife him. The latter is an assumption I’d not be making right now.

Caltabiano is an idiot who deserves to lose his seat. I’m sure most Liberals are sick of him and his factional games. I’m a conservative but I hope Beattie wins. The disunity in the Coalition is disturbing.

Which isn’t quite the same as the Nationals pitching a presidential campaign to Liberal voters in SEQ. One has to admire Mackerras’ bravery, but it’s not going to be as close as 5 seats, as Springborg is a vote-loser in all but the lowest hanging fruit outside the rural and regional bits. He’s still quite young and it would ring a bit hollow, that said, I moved from Qld around the time of the 2004 campaign so maybe he presents better nowadays than he did back then.

Good grief, anyone would assume they want to lose. That’s the worst possible strategy they could have adopted. Do Presidential campaigns ever work from Opposition at a state level? One expects not, but with Springborg, it’s a doubly-dead idea.