Word: howard
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...Sept. 12, Howard and his contender faced each other in the campaign's televised debate. Until then, Mark Latham had struggled to gain momentum in his first tilt at the top office, but on Sept. 12 the fan of community forums found his rhythm, besting Howard with his confident, relaxed demeanor and clearly reveling in the chance to joust with the seasoned campaigner. From the debate, which most commentators awarded to him, Latham and his campaign seemed to draw new vigor, and by the time he announced Labor's key education policy later that week, the Opposition leader was shaking...
...wake after a 1990s stint as mayor of Sydney's Liverpool council, or Labor's timetable for submitting its policies for Treasury costing, economic stability was the government's mantra. At its campaign launch in Brisbane's stately City Hall on Sept. 26, before a crowd waving Australian flags, Howard unveiled a childcare rebate and plans for 24 new technical colleges, and warned again of Labor's record on debt, deficits and union power. "Never listen to what Labor says," he said. "Remember what Labor...
...Latham's high points, and his audience left bolstered - "I feel proud to be a Labor supporter again," said teacher Robin Boyne. Latham's other key message that day was simple: "I'm ready to lead, and he's ready to leave." Keen to highlight Howard's refusal to commit to a full term, Labor gambled that the electorate would be disturbed by the chance of a handover to Treasurer Costello. But more pressing was their own leadership question. At the same time that Labor had to convince Australians enjoying some of the best economic conditions in memory that they...
...Latham worked hard and well during the campaign to sketch a better picture of who he was, but up against a 30-year heavyweight like Howard, his brief relationship with the electorate remained a crucial issue to the end. Some believed Latham's inexperience was not a problem. "He has a lot to learn, but who doesn't?" said 75-year-old Margaret Nicol outside a bakery in Caboolture, part of the marginal Queensland seat of Longman. For one 79-year-old in a shopping center in the marginal Melbourne seat of Deakin, Medicare Gold was enough to assuage...
...campaign's final week brought no clear front runner, and some of its strangest images yet, as Howard, reviled by many workers as a career union buster, was cheered in Tasmania by members of one of the nation's toughest unions, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. "Rats in the ranks," Labor candidate for Bowman and Australian Services Union organizer Donna Webster fumed about the cfmeu. "That was an absolute cop-out." But for the P.M., it was an effective political strike: after hinting in the first week of the campaign he would move on the contentious issue...