First Howard V. Rudd deabte of the election

Last night I went along to one of the host churches to hear both John Howard and Kevin Rudd court the Christian vote in a webcast for up to 100,000 people gathered in churches across the country. The event was effectively the first leaders debate of the 2007 Federal Election campaign.

The webcast from the National Press Club entitled "2007 Make it Count" was organised by the Australian Christian Lobby.

Bottom line John Howard carried the evening by:

1) appealing to the belief among Christians that they are an oppressed minority under threat from an increasingly secular society;

2) reinforcing his conservative credentials and the fact the Liberal National Party coalition is the natural home of the Christian lobby; and

3) announcing a $189 million program to address internet porn.

On the other hand Kevin Rudd appeared to be both nervous and tired after the week in Parliament. His address compared poorly, for example, to his speech last year to CASE at New College at the University of New South Wales on politics & Christianity when he shared the platform with John Anderson before he became ALP leader.

The other major strategic error in Rudd's speech was that he addressed the audience in the watching churches, over the heads of the 'heavies" in the National Press Club as voters first and Christians second. Those 100,000 across Australia were motivated as Christians to leave their homes and go to a church or meeting hall to watch.

This would be disappointing for the ALP as Rudd had an opportunity to neutralise faith as a issue - there appeared to be a fair amount of good will in the audience before he started. I thought the applause at the beginning was heartier than at the conclusion but that could reflect the hour or the tougher questions he received from the audience.