The tumult and the shouting is over but tidiness dictates that we complete the Crikey Daily Verdict on the election campaign because the final result suggests that we got the verdict right over the 41 days (from day zero on Sunday 14 October to day 40 last Friday) we rated. Labor clearly won the campaign and snuffed out any chance that John Howard had of snatching a last minute victory.

Treasurer Peter Costello put it correctly at his press conference yesterday announcing that he would not become Liberal Party Leader when he said the last hope of victory for the Coalition was snuffed out by coverage of the racist pamphlet distributed in Lindsay blocking out the final Coalition message of the dangers of voting Labor. The last night of television could hardly have been better for Labor if they had produced it themselves.

Day 40 – Friday 23 November

Coalition

ALP

Television

0.42

3.85

Newspapers

0.21

0.41

Radio

0.16

0.63

Internet

0.16

0.54

TOTAL

0.95

5.43

Only in the first week when John Howard announced his tax package did the Coalition win the campaign. From then on the Labor lead just kept widening.

The final points tally of Crikey’s Daily Verdict was:

Coalition

ALP

Television

55.33

83.93

Newspapers

9.83

11.72

Radio

12.29

15.28

Internet

5.07

8.49

TOTAL

82.51

119.42