The Australian is carrying a report of a speech by Mark Scott, Managing Director of the ABC, who has declared that those (private) media-organised events, such as the ones at Rooty Hills and the Broncos Club in Queensland, must not be allowed to occur again.

“The events, the venues, the panels, the hosts should be set by a totally independent panel and commonly understood, a year before the date of the election,” Mr Scott told the festival’s New News 2010 Conference.

“In discussion with the campaign directors, it was clear to me that they wanted the reach of free-to-air television and were happy to use ABC talent to host,” he said.

“But finally, there was no way either was going to upset a monopoly Murdoch newspaper in the pivotal swing state three days before polling day.

“The thought of what The Courier-Mail would do to the candidate who didn’t show to their sponsored event was chilling to contemplate.” Read more »

Nevada is a swing state, going with the party winning each presidential election since 1980. Nevada is also a rapidly growing state, having gained a second House of Representatives seat after the 1980 census, and a third after the 2000 census. Nevada is expected to gain a fourth seat after this year’s census. This year’s seat is held by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D).

Both Senate seats were held by Democrats throughout the 1960s, until one of the two seats was won by Republican Paul Laxalt in 1974, who defeated Lieutenant Governor Harry Reid.

The other Senate seat was won by Republican candidate Chic Hecht in 1982, defeating Senator Howard Cannon in an upset result.

Laxalt retired from his seat at the 1986 election, and the seat was won by Democrat Harry Reid, who had held a seat in the House of Representatives since 1982. Two years later, Senator Hecht lost his seat to Governor Richard Bryan (D). Read more »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cFkae0j_Ns

Ohio is a typical swing state, having gone to the winning presidential candidate at every election since 1964. Ohio’s two Senate seats are currently split between the two parties.

Both Ohio seats were held by the Democrats from the late 1970s until the early 1990s. In 1994, Mike DeWine (R) won one of Ohio’s Senate seats off the Democrats upon the retirement of Howard Metzenbaum.

Former astronaut John Glenn retired in 1998 from the seat up for election this year, and Ohio Governor George Voinovich (R) won the seat. In 2000, DeWine won re-election, as did Voinovich in 2004.

In 2006, DeWine lost his Senate seat to US Representative Sherrod Brown (D).

This year, George Voinovich is retiring from his Senate seat. The Republican primary was won unopposed by Rob Portman. Portman served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1993 until 2005. Portman served as US Trade Representative from 2005 to 2006, then served as Director of President Bush’s Office of Management and Budget until 2007.

In the Democratic primary, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher defeated Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, with 55% of the vote. Read more »

• Have you checked the difference in the cost of promises made by Labor in the lead up to the 2007 election and the actual cost when implemented? If so, what is the difference?
• Does the fact that an average of 3.9 per cent of electors in your three electorates gave their first preference votes to the Greens compared to the national average of 11.5 per cent give you pause in considering support for a Labor-Greens government?
• Which Government is likely to put less strain on the Budget: a Coalition or a Labor-Greens government?
• Can you point to past statements you have made where you think a Labor-Greens government would be in Australia’s national interest? Can you point to previous comments you have made in support of Greens’ policies?
• With a Labor Government relying on Greens support and with the Greens holding a balance of power in the Senate, is it more or less likely that Greens’ policies will be implemented under a Labor or Coalition government?
• How high a price on carbon do you support?