The next ALP candidate for Cowper should be out in the community trying to create a profile now – not as the next ALP candidate, but as a community leader. That’s probably one thing the ALP has never really been good at – prepping the community for their candidates.

Profile is worth buckets of votes in the regions – that’s what Country Labor should have been using their resources between elections to do.

Someone told me that when the ALP decided to change candidate they began looking for a local celebrity, names suggested were Russell Crowe, Jack Thompson and David Helfgott. Paul Sekfy looks fairly stable compared to that lot.

I was surprised by Cowper at the last Fed election – surprised that the ALP didn’t win it when it really should have been a slam dunk.

The Nats in Cowper will be killed by demographic change alone by 2010.

Dyers Crossing seems to be the last home of the Nats in the electorate – getting 47% of the Primary (I made an error earlier up in the thread on this) compared to Oakeshott’s 39.7% and going on to win the TPP at the booth by 2 votes – 235 to 233.

There wasnt another booth where the Nats cracked 40% of the primary, and only 6 where they cracked 30!

There’s still the absents, prepolls and whatnot to come in – RO should crack 75% TPP.

Speaking of state matters… does anyone now have a prediction on what might happen in the state by-election in 6 weeks time? Do you reckon we can call Rob Drew & Leslie Williams “Mr & Mrs 20 percent” in 2008?

I normally wouldn’t comment on such an inconsequentiallity as the DLP vote but after what happened on the previous thread perhaps a few words are worthwhile (tongue firmly in cheek).

This is an absolute disaster for the party. In terms of finances alone the loss of the deposit and failure to skim the election funds must make the party’s survival doubtful.

However, lets look at the votes – 618! and this in an election where masses of disenfranchied Labor voters were going to pour across to the “other Labor party”. In fact if you remove the random voters (surely at least 200) and those who confused the DLP for the ALP (again at least 200 and, by the posts on this site, the DLP’s main campaign stratergy) you are left with about 200 people who made a conscious decision to vote for the blow-in.

Let’s get the vote in context. At 1% the vote has dropped by a third since the senate election last year. The Fishing vote is 4 times greater than the DLP – 4 times as many people chose a party whose main interest is in catch size over the DLP’s world view. The informal vote is 4 times greater than the DLP- 4 times as many people are interested in using the ballot for colouring-in than those who believe the DLP has the answers. Barry Wright got within 150 votes of the DLP. Barry admits he stands for elections as therapy after his wife’s death. He believes that Australia should have a form of Swiss federalism largely because his wife was Swiss. However, at least he lives locally and campaigns. Last Friday, in torrential rain, I saw his car with a Swiss flag and balloons in Aboriginal colours outside Purfleet.

So, the people who seek to revive a dead and largely reviled brand name from the 60s need to do some soul-searching. The DLP is as dead as B A Santamaria.