Shouts from the desert

Another survey of Bennelong voters has revealed the Prime Minister is behind in Bennelong, with McKew having 52% on a two party preferred basis. Interestingly the poll "showed 18 per cent of people in Bennelong who voted Liberal at the last election were leaning towards Labor", which suggests there is more room to move towards the ALP. With this poll being taken two days after the budget, there is likely to be some bias towards the Government in these figures.

There are differences in the Bennelong dynamic between 2004 and 2007. In 2004 the high profile challenger was with the Greens, whereas in 2007 the ALP candidate has this position. The scale of the Greens campaign in Bennelong in 2004 made it tough for anybody but the Greens and the Liberals to get much exposure, but this time the ALP is setting out to conduct a campaign that is likely to drown out other voices.

The "Not Happy John" campain from 2004 will be replaced by a campaign from GetUp this year. The GetUp campaign is already ramping up and will be using some of the manpower that went into the "Not Happy John" and Greens campaigns in 2004 &emdash; their Bennelong campaign manager worked on "Not Happy John" in 2004. They are also be better funded than "Not Happy John", which was heavily dependent on seed finance from John Valder and funds from the sale of merchandise.

The ALP campaign in Bennelong began in earnest a few weeks ago with a massive billboard on one of the pedestrian bridges over Epping Road. The Liberal campaign began yesterday with a meet and greet on the Rowe Street mall.

It looks like David Havyatt will be running for the Democrats in Bennelong this year and I suspect Ray Levick will run again for the Christian Democrats. Peter Bell is the most likely candidate for the Greens this year.