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Glenn Greenwald “Good riddance to John Howard”
Tigerhawk “Thank you John Howard.”
Mark Steyn: “John Howard was characteristically graceful in defeat.”
Jules Crittenden: “Australian vote — Pre-9/11 Era”
Tim Blair “Audience enthusiasm seemed to trail off a few times, particularly when Rudd mentioned “the worst drought Australia has ever suffered” (crowd applauded, hesitantly) and when he described the suffering of a long-time staffer: “He’s had to put up with me for FIVE YEARS!” (crowd applauded, nervously). Phrase “You know what?” used three times. “Working families” once.”
Sydney Morning Herald: “Prime Minister John Howard has phoned Kevin Rudd and conceded defeat. The prime minister also faces a possible loss of his Bennelong seat in Sydney with Labor’s celebrity candidate Maxine McKew achieving a 6 per cent swing against him with more than a third of the vote counted.”
CNN: “The deputy leader of Australia’s Labor Party predicted her party would win enough seats in parliament to replace the government of veteran Prime Minister John Howard.”
Blogocracy’s Tim Dunlop is also following the results, still not convinced it’s a Labor win.
Reuters: “With just over 2 percent of the vote counted, Labor was leading in several key seats needed to win power. Labor frontbencher and strategist Stephen Smith predicted his party could win between 20 and 25 seats, enough to win power.”
BBC: “Howard also faces the possibility of losing his own seat in Sydney.”
Gloom at Tim Blair’s, though noting that TV network Nine is now claiming Labor needs just four more seats for victory. ABC TV reports very slow counts in Queensland and South Australia; “Chads?”
Andrew Bolt has been following results minute by minute. He calls the election for the Labor party on the basis of exit polls.
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