Five days until the federal election.

Well. I've been distracted from the election campaign, so I'm not on top of all the election campaign issues, but here are my thoughts:

Voters are tired of John Howard (who claims full responsibility when the economy does well but denies having any control over things like mortgages getting more expensive) and disenchanted with his mooted replacement, Peter Costello.

There have not been big, scary terrorist attacks or an adequately sensational and persistent beat-up about refugees, so those issues are not driving voters to vote for the safety of the incumbent government. The war on Aboriginal communities is neither here nor there.

On environmental matters, Howard's government are rendering forth born-again-environmentalist like declamations about cleaning up the environment and taking climate change seriously, but I cannot see an actual shift in their underlying policies. Labor have not been making a lot of actual constructive sense on that front, either, that I've noticed.

I suppose the things that strike me as the most powerful decision factors are:

John Howard did not keep interest rates from rising, despite claiming weather-god status on that matter before the last election.

He brought in "work choices" which I see as weakening protections for employees in a strong economy and reducing them to near-slave status in a weak one.

The question is: Will the desire of voters to punish him for either or both of those things be powerful enough to overcome their doubts about Kevin Rudd's prospective government?

Five days until we find out.

Longer if it's reeeally close.