Well, judging by what's been going on in Canberra lately, it looks like we may finally be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Howard reign, a reign propped up by a global economic boom, a national resources boom, a string of incompetent opposition leaders and a politically unaware electorate.

We are now seeing the cracks appear in a tired old man who grew comfortable with Beazley, but is now clearly rattled by a sharper opponent who has out-witted him and out-smarted him on almost every turn.

The unshakeable Howard appears more and more shaken every day by a mere Poindexter who has finally shown the more apathetic in this country what a lot of us already knew about the ideology that drives him and his party. Australians are slowly realising now that Howard really isn't as smart or politically savvy as Beazley, Crean and Latham made him look.

It has recently been said that Howard is like a Cobra, bobbing and weaving and always probing for a weak point. The problem is, the other guy is a Mongoose.

Howard's recent comments in regards to Obama are nothing more than a tactic to distract the country from his momentary admission that he is still a global warming skeptic, an admission that could possibly be detrimental to his re-election hopes. Fortunately though, his comments seem to have done more damage than there would have been had he just kept his mouth shut.

Howard should have done what Rupert Murdoch suggested recently and quit while he was (artificially) on top. I suspect Howard now realises this too and is upset by the possibility of losing an election; It shows in his frequent out-bursts and nonsensical rebuttals. But because of his arrogance and false sense of security as PM, he has over-estimated himself this time and we may now be lucky enough to witness his political demise. Hopefully we will see the ship go down with it's captain too.

I think Kevin Rudd is trying to score as many points as he can without sticking his own neck out too far. It's a tricky thing to do and is already starting to bite him, as he is now under pressure to give his own Iraq policy. Basically, the Labor party is the same mess it has been for many years, but they've finally found a couple of half-decent leaders and are now trying their hardest to keep it all together.

Kevin will be relying mainly on the growing public sentiment that maybe Howard has been in a bit long, is making a few too many mistakes, and it's time for someone else to have a go. If he can keep his head down long enough, and surface only to reinforce that growing sentiment, he stands a fair chance of getting in. If John, however, succeeds in drawing Kevin into revealing specifics of alternative plans, it might scare the public into a "devil you know" mindset again (like last time).

What has Rudd got to explain? His policy on Iraq is well known - withdraw Australian troops.

Remember the Labor Party voted against our involvement, The Iraq disaster is partly due to Howards actions yet he has no answer.

He now talks about an American "defeat" in Iraq. How could America ever win in Iraq?

Rudd tried to bring on a debate, on Iraq, in Parliament this morning. Guess what our Government wimped it.

Come on Johnny stop regurgitating Fox News "Defeat" and tell us what your solution to the mess you helped create is.

Future generations living on this continent might probably hear of a Howard government some sort info similar to nowadays one of Broze Tito of then near-communist Yugoslavia that is about selling off Australian resources to China on heavily-discounted-price-based-long-terms agreements, while endlessly borrowing money overseas and balloning national debt to please voters and recent UK masters - a time-bomb of the Balkans of the nineties prior to “Oizy Juimujhurmia” of which predecessor called recently “Australia” a pre-islamist Anglo-oriented entity was.

I am really worried about staying in Iraq. Bush and the UK are starting to blame Iran for providing weapons to Shia insurgents. I thought we were technically on the side of the Shia, So we go to war now against Iran and shia muslims and the now who are we defending...the sunni. This is the mob we robbed of power in Iraq to begin with.

I have never known who our actual enemy is in Iraq. Who is it? Al-queada were never there to start with and I feel their only interest now is the US presence. The new terrorism that has started would be normal, I think, considering the sunni and shia have had issues for centuries. I doubt the love will start again anytime soon.

I read that a US senator wants to stay because the Shia majority government cannot be trusted and will side with the shia in a civil war. So we replace Saddam? This seems what will happen. Huge death toll, millions of refugees and pretend democracy.

There are 3.6 milions refugees from this war already and now things may escalate to conflict with Iran. Then nukes may start flying and Israel may not wait to see what happens. Maybe I am getting carried away but I really want our government (whoever it maybe) to get us the hell out!

Glen. Even Howard admits he has no control over interest rates. Where do you get the idea from? Howard's election rants obviously.

The punters have put the money on. Labor in from $2.75 to now $1.84. Coalition out to $1.96. It's over.

Fixing the Murray? My God Glen, where are you? Must be still struggling through the effluent pipes somewhere, on the Murray of course, being fixed.

The fat lady has begun to warble. Just listen to Abbott and Costelloe (yes the comedic duo) trying the old name calling routine. Desperation is what it is. It's over.

All Premiers and Howard have been claiming the title of great economic manager. Different Parties. Hmmm. GST and the mining boom make us all good managers.

Yet Howard has left a large portion of our people in poverty. Now that's extra special management, excluding several groups deliberately. That's real clever.

Progressive gun laws? You mean take away the legally owned and used guns and leave the criminals with theirs. Very smart.

Howard has one legacy. Mean, Rat, rodent. Forget him, he's a pain in the derriere.

Never was a clever politician. Just a careful liar. Careful to never have no one to blame. Clever to always avoid answering anything directly. Does "I wasn't answering that part of the question" ring a bell anyone?

Let's not though forget that Labor will be in office. Everywhere. A new danger to all.

Change the balance. Vote TAPP. The Australian People's Party. Looking for candidates right now.