Abbott was never going to get elected. The question that the Government faced was how much control over the Senate did they want. Both parties were bleeding votes to 'third parties'. A lot of Rudd's failures were due to an inability to control the Senate: a repeat performance of this would be disastrous at the end of the second term.
Basically, if you know that you're not going to get elected, you can promise whatever the damn hell you like. In that position, your goal isn't to win the election: it's to make the conditions less favourable for the incumbent at the next election. It's why Labor spent so long in the wilderness: they were incapable of rattling the Coalition in the Senate. As such, they were always one election behind the pace.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-06-24 09:27 am (UTC)Basically, if you know that you're not going to get elected, you can promise whatever the damn hell you like. In that position, your goal isn't to win the election: it's to make the conditions less favourable for the incumbent at the next election. It's why Labor spent so long in the wilderness: they were incapable of rattling the Coalition in the Senate. As such, they were always one election behind the pace.