Beazley

Dream team or another challenger: Rudd and his ambitious deputy Julia Gillard

Ex diplomat Kevin Rudd has won a ballot for the Federal Labor Leadership beating incumbent Kim Beazley.

Rudd won the ballot 49 to 39, according to the Caucus spokesperson.

Rudd is the fifth leader Labor has put up against Coalition leader, John Howard since he won power ten years ago.

The next election is expected later next year, although some have speculated Mr Howard may be tempted to go early to capitalise on division in the Labor Party.

Caucus divided over Rudd and Beazley

Labor would have romped home in a federal election despite its leadership woes a new poll by Nielsen has concluded.

The same poll also found Labor's primary vote lifting a massive 7 percentage points to an unbelievable 48 per cent if Kevin Rudd was leader.

A poll by the Newspoll group found 48 per cent of those polled supported the Rudd-Gillard team, compared with 27 per cent cupport for Beazley-macklin combination.

Both contenders used the polls to argue for their case. Beazley is arguing Labor is now in a winning position, Rudd that he has strong electoral support.

Mark Latham described him owned "lock, stock and barrell" by the United States and that was the nice stuff, so who is Kevin Rudd?

Born on the Sunshcoast his character was shaped by the early death of his father at age 11. He grew up in a Catholic family and attended a Catholic school but is in fact a committed Anglican. He has recently argued that faith has to be back by social action to be effective but denied he was trying to “recruit from the pew”.

Federal Labor leadership speculation is continuing with reports from Canberra one anti-Beazley caucus member is saying the pressure for change had reached a point of no return.

It came as the Australian reported Opposition leader, Kim Beazley, was prepared to have a front bench reshuffle.

The last caucus meeting for the year is next Tuesday. If a move is to be made before XMAS, notice would need to be given at this meeting.

The move comes after an opinion poll that suggested Beazley's main opponent, Kevin Rudd, enjoyed far stronger electorial support than Beazley. The same poll showed Labor ahead in the polls.

Two Party Preferred Trends: PalmerNewspoll continues its yo-yo behaviour, with the latest poll showing Labor would have won an election if it had been held last week. Labor on a two party preferred vote would have won the election 51 per cent to 49 per cent. This is in sharp contrast with the previous poll, which showed Labor losing by a large margin. As Bryan Palmer's excellent analysis shows the new poll is consistent with the other major polls, which reveal a worry two year trend for the Government.