Abbott is full of contrasts - he gives the strong impression of being interested in helping the ordinary person, yet on the other hand, he goes rogue on other issues.

There is the contrast between his stance against abortion and his comment that it's OK for a young child to be in the car when its parents are smoking. Surely, if one had the best interests of all people at heart, he would be against both of those activities, not just one of them. Gillard has called him eccentric and I can see why. This won't lose him the election though. I think he'll lose for the reasons Glorifindel proposes - the government has to first be on the nose with the electorate and the opposition has to cut through with its policies and narrative. Neither are ripe at this time. Hence the laws of modern politics say that the Coalition will lose the next election.

Anyhow, this could be a good thing as Abbott has the ability to give the Government a good intellectual scouring. This would be a positive and could soften up the Government for an assault by a reinvigorated LP under Turnbull in 2013, say.

It'll be interesting to see what happens...