Injury Time 3- The Hokey-Pokey (With Bob & Oakey)

No need to be afraid Australia. Really. Via ABC

As the BobKat touched down in Canberra and held a fruity presser confirming many people's belief that the guy is first rate bonkers, the playing field up and tilted. Denison, after all that, may well go to the super-spy, while Corangamite, the hilariously monikered Victorian seat, slipped from the ALP's desperate paw back into contention. Brisbane remains a possible, and as always, Hasluck is the key. Except for the other keys. And any other on top of those, should a recount indicate that a bunch of ballots were stuck together, or left in the rain, or on top of the car, or down the back of the couch. The point? We're going to postals. Like going to penalties I guess, just less entertaining.

At the start of the day it was mathematically possible for Labor, should the gods smile (and why would they, but...), to call 75 seats their own. As the day closed, they were looking for a 73rd, 73 giving them a shot at vague legitimacy. While the three independents did the rounds and spoke of the nation, the national interest, a nicer gentler kinder polity, rural Australia, communications and health and education and all they want to see in this, their brief but potentially powerful week in the sun, the fact remains that without 73 Labor haven't got a shot.

Abbott knows this, and looked edgy at his press call today. The commentators didn't write about it, but I was struck by an ever so subtle bullying tone in Tone. It was the campaign again, full of terms that, if I were one of the three (or four) independents, would piss me well off. These chaps will not be told. And maybe it'll all, every last bit of it, come down to numbers and the not the conversations with the leaders planned for tomorrow. But for the moment, they want to suck the air in, and being told who is capable and stable (it remains the buzzword) won't do it. Neither side can prove it. Both sides can only continue praying. At least one of them is a believer.