As our leaders make their journeys home to practise both speech options and primp their lucky ties for Saturday night, we can reflect more accurately on the freshly sealed campaign track (click on image for full screen):
In the closing moments of Campaign07, Crikey’s Election Tracker shows one victory is already certain.
Opposition leader Kevin Rudd has thumped Prime Minister John Howard by 8,432 km of campaign travel. The final tallies sit at:
Rudd: 43,896 km
Howard: 37,045 km
But the totals barely tell half the story. A closer analysis of total campaign travel reveals clear state and territory preferences:
New South Wales
Howard (home state): 7 visits over 14 days
Rudd: 5 visits over 9 days
Queensland
Howard: 4 visits over 7 days
Rudd (home state): 6 visits over 15 days
It is also worth noting that both leaders launched their official campaigns in QLD.
Western Australia
Howard: 4 visits over 5 days
Rudd: 4 visits over 5 days
Victoria
Howard: 2 visits over 6 days
Rudd: 5 visits over 6 days
Australian Capital Territory
Howard: 2 visits over 3 days
Rudd: 5 visits over 5 days
South Australia
Howard: 2 visit over 3 days
Rudd: 4 visits over 8 days
Northern Territory
Howard: 1 visit over 1 day
Rudd: 1 visit over 1 day
Tasmania
Howard: 1 visit over 1 day
Rudd: 1 visit over 1 day
The Election Tracker also shows that both leaders preferred marginal seats:
No. of seats held by a margin of less than 10% visited
Howard: 37
Rudd: 35No. of seats held by a margin of more than 10% visited
Howard: 7
Rudd: 7
Overall, John Howard’s own marginal seat of Bennelong is where the PM has spent the most time (five days), while Kevin Rudd continued to show a preference for his home state of Queensland – though no one seat in particular.
And in the final 10 days…
Rudd favoured campaigning in Coalition-held electorates (12 visits to Lib-Nat seats, seven to ALP seats), and confidently hit Curtin and Macarthur – held by Liberals by margins of 14.6% and 11.1% respectively.
The reverse is true for Howard, whose final days have mostly been spent in his own party’s seats (11 Lib-Nat, seven ALP).
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