Despite our defeat, Latham has become a seasoned leader and will lead us to victory in three years time. The Liberals won this election on a negative campaign, there was no retaliation to Latham's education and health policies.
They won only by scaring the Australian people regarding interest rates. There was not a single advertisement that explained to Australians the benefit of the Liberal party's policies, just an endless barrage of Latham's economic credentials. Which of course is fair, but it is a sad thing indeed to see John Howard re-elected thanks to a campaign based solely on fear. If anyone watched the Glasshouse last night, Dave Hughes summed up the message of the Liberal campaign very well-
"Vote for me, because if you don't, interest rates will go up on your house, and then terrorists will bomb your house"
Despite all that, both leaders delivered great speeches. Latham's almost brought me to tears and Howard's, while not driving me to the Liberal ranks, it did make me thankful for our Australian democracy.