All Politics Is Local
What’s the Bennelong take on Troy Rollo? He’s running a nice little discussion board over at Your Voice, which is also where I discovered the news that Howard’s talking about elections maybe next April. How can this be, you ask? Well, the clock starts ticking from the day the newly elected House first sits, which was actually 11 February 2002, not from the date of the last election (10 November 2001). It’s not like the U.S., where election day is election day, regardless of when the President was sworn in. Prognosticators suggest October¬-December. As for the Senate, it doesn’t look like a double-dissolution is likely, which is probably a significant part of why Howard’s been delaying. It could still happen in September-October, but if John’s really serious about waiting until after the U.S. goes to the polls (thanks, Gianna), then it’ll be too late. I’d guess he’s serious, and hoping a half-Senate election will return better numbers there for his party, whichever way the Lower House election turns out.