KEY POINTS:
The shadow perpetually in John Howard's background has finally been revealed for what he truly is: the Prime Minister's secret weapon to turn the youth of Australia back into the embrace of his Government.
Senior press secretary David Luff has become a national celebrity since his creation as a sex symbol by Melbourne radio station Fox FM, as a ploy by hosts Jo Stanley and Matt Tilley to get Howard on their show.
He has been presented with a magnificent bunch of roses, Stanley told him on air she loved him - to which he replied "love you too" - and the broadcasters have started an online poll on Luff's sex appeal.
As of late yesterday, 67 per cent of listeners (genders not specified) reckon Luff is "smokin' hot". The remaining 33 per cent think he is not hot at all.
Luff's visage has appeared in newspapers and on television. And it worked. Howard answered Luff's cellphone when the station called and Stanley and Tilley had their interview.
Yesterday, Howard conceded the truth on Channel Nine: "I think he's attracting a very large number of young women to my campaign. That's the secret strategy. I've now inadvertently revealed it."
The troubling reality for Howard is that young Australia apparently will not have him or his Government for Luff nor money.
A new analysis by Newspoll in the Australian shows that the Labor Party leader, Kevin Rudd, has captured the mortgage belt and youth.
The newspaper said that while Howard might have chewed into Rudd's lead, Labor now had 775,000 more votes than the Government in the 18-35 age bracket, and was 373,000 ahead among those aged 35-59.
This 1 million lead, if confirmed on November 24, should deliver power to Rudd and end Howard's 11-year reign.
The 50-year-old Rudd's comparative appeal to youth is confirmed among students whose union, admittedly entrenched critics of the Government, has accused Howard of using grants to buy student votes, and rates his education policies as bottom of the pile.
Rudd does better with an "average" grade but, while the Greens and Democrats rate more highly, the National Union of Students notes that their inability to form a government raisesan entire new debate for students about how they will vote.
On the internet, home turf for the young, Rudd is also leading.
Polling on MySpace gives Labor 44 per cent of the vote, the Government 31 per cent, the Greens 12 per cent and other parties 4 per cent, with 7 per cent undecided. Rudd's special election site, www. Kevin07.com, is attracting more users than Howard's www.pm.gov.au, despite Howard's bid to win overthe young through the use of YouTube to announce new policies.
The friend count also runs against Howard. Rudd tops 20,000 on MySpace, compared to the Liberal Party's nine and Treasurer Peter Costello's 227, and the maximum 5000 friends permitted on Facebook.
"We've come for a friendly sleepover seeing as we're all good friends, so what do you reckon?" Australian comic Chas Licciardello quipped during a televised skit this week in which 50 of Rudd's Facebook mates turned up at his Brisbane home.
"I'd love it, but I've been on the road for two weeks nearly and I've got the kids waiting," a jovial Rudd said as he disappeared, leaving Licciardello behind with a can of spray-paint offering to "write on his wall", a Facebook message service.
Costello himself is a worry for the Government's hopes of pulling younger voters and the mortgage belt into their orbit.
Newspoll found that 30 per cent of voters were less likely to vote for the Government because of Howard's planned handover to his deputy and Treasurer during his next term.
More telling, Newspoll reported that dislike of the Treasurer deepens among voters aged under 50, with about four in 10 aged between 18-34 less likely to support the Government because of his planned ascension.
Among 35-49-year-olds the sentiment runs at about three in 10.
This leaves Howard's only real strength in the over-50s: Newspoll says the Government has the support of 431,000 more grey voters than Labor.
Last week Howard announced additional annual inflation-buffeting payments of A$500 ($604) to pensioners, self-funded retirees and carers, at a total cost of A$ billion.
Yesterday Rudd, dubbed "Me Too" by opponents, matched Howard with his own A$4.1 billion package, increasing allowances and travel and telephone subsidies.