SYDNEY — They're off and racing. No sooner has Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced an election date than he is promising a $34 billion tax cut, the biggest in the nation's history.
Caught napping, his would-be replacement, Kevin Rudd, had the television cameras on him in a remote provincial hospital just as the doctors were ordering him out so they could treat an emergency case. Even his Treasury spokesman, Wayne Swan, was begging for more time to answer Howard's vote-grabbing bonanza. And these tactical gaffes from a political party that has been taunting the government for months with: "Bring on the election."
Yes, the awaited national election is in full swing. And with only a month to go before the Nov. 24 poll, both the Liberal-National government and the Labor opposition are at screaming pitch to convince highly skeptical electors of their merits.