Appearance still plays a big role in someone's re-election
campaign - especially for voters who don't know much about
their candidates. They use simple cues like faces and
appearance - because they don't know enough to recognize
them for their accomplishments.

Of course when voters do get to know politicians really
well, their face and appearance becomes irrelevant.
Because voters get so much better information than what the
politicians look like.

Judging by appearance? Perhaps that should not be done?
But in politics looks do matter. Research confirms it.
And this is wrong for democracy.

Apparently the cyclist, now 24, is lawyered up and ready to go to court. There are now questions about how the matter was handled by VicPol, and there is even talk of a lack of assistance rendered as required by law after a traffic accident. If Andrews operates his private life as he does his public one - nothing is ever his fault, he doesn't recall, etc. - there are interesting times ahead for Danny Boy, on top of his political problems.

A Victorian poll of more than 800 voters, taken from
October 20th to 24th shows Daniel Andrews leads
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy as preferred Premier by
49% to 29%, a slightly bigger margin than the last poll
in September.

It is pretty dire for the Coalition on that point.

"There is value in being the underdog but there's a
fine line between an underdog and just a dog."

Things are going to heat up in the next couple of weeks
as the election campaigns get into full swing. It will
be interesting to see how all this pans out. Voters have
been through a lot. It's been a tough year all round
and Christmas is just around the corner. Most people
could certainly use something to put smiles on their
faces. We'll have to wait and see what that will be.

I support a change of government, a change to the Liberals is possibly on the cards, but with punter disillusionment running high in Victoria, add in Liberal Party dysfunctionality and the state generally having a left wing bias I can see the progressive Greens and moderate independents doing well. The far right, as typified by Hansonism has not fared well in past elections in Victoria and may not do so again. Not a great follower of Victorian politics, so Dangerous Dan each-way might be the bet.

Dear Paul,

It's really hard to tell which way Victoria will swing.
Lidia Thorpe has done a great deal of damage for the
Greens in Victoria. But then Matthew Guy is not
popular either. And Dan Andrews and the recent scandals
are not helping. So it's all a bit of a question-mark
at the moment. Although I suspect it will end up being -
a case of - "the devil you know." People usually don't like
change when things are crumbling around them.