Tennis star after Howard's turf

SYDNEY - John Howard's old seat has become a celebrities' battleground, with the former tennis star John Alexander named the Liberal Party's candidate in Bennelong, the Sydney electorate sensationally won by Maxine McKew, a veteran television journalist, in 2007.

All eyes were on Bennelong last election, when Howard not only lost government, but became only the second Australian Prime Minister to lose his seat.

The Liberals' pre-selection of Alexander, 58, will ensure plenty of attention for the northwest Sydney constituency next election, which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has to call by the end of next year.

Alexander, a television commentator, won seven singles and 27 doubles titles during his tennis career. But his political credentials are less clear: he joined the Liberal Party only this year, and marginal Bennelong, which has a large Asian population, was his second choice.

He made an unsuccessful attempt to win pre-selection for the seat of Bradfield, vacated by the former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson.

McKew, well regarded as a hard-working local member, congratulated Alexander yesterday but contested his claim that Bennelong was "sacred ground" for the Liberals. "Nobody owns anything," the former ABC interviewer and presenter told ABC radio.

Alexander said he was delighted to be pre-selected, and added that he backed the stance of the Liberals' new leader, Tony Abbott, on climate change.

Howard's former Treasurer, Peter Costello, said recently that the Liberal Party would have to regain Bennelong if it wanted to win the next election.

In South Australia, meanwhile, the ruling Labor Party's 12-point lead over the Liberals has halved in the wake of allegations of Premier Mike Rann's affair with Michelle Chantelois, a former parliamentary waitress.

With a state election to be held in March, the Liberals, under their new leader Isobel Redmond, are on 47 per cent, compared with 53 per cent for Labor, according to a Newspoll conducted for the Australian.