William Bowe
Editor of The Poll Bludger@PollBludger
William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, is one of the most heavily trafficked forums for online discussion of Australian politics, and joined the Crikey stable in 2008.
The Chinese-Australian community has significant influence in several key seats.
Certainly the deal is of use to Palmer in his bid for a Queensland Senate seat. But that's not all.
Abbott is going full local candidate this time because he's facing a genuine challenger — and the early polling was terrible for him.
Divided votes and increased competition — David Leyonhjelm's recent failure may be a bellwether for things to come on May 18.
To get into a position where it is even able to cling to minority government, the Coalition will need to hack a path through seats currently held by Labor.
Stagnating votes, plot twists, and dogs that failed to bark — an analysis of the weekend's election results.
The only other likely outcome is an outright Coalition win, despite the problems Gladys Berejiklian has in regional areas.
As federal Nationals whisper of a pre-election leadership spill, the NSW branch has its own share of problems in the imminent state election.
A recent preselection in the WA seat of Stirling has cost the Liberals an opportunity to persuade women in Perth that they should keep faith with the party.
It's going to take a lot more than the goings-on of the "Canberra bubble" to transform the medivac loss to the Coalition's advantage come election time.