Clutching at straws

Labor hasn't been a bad government but they are on the nose with the electorate.  The last time they were on the nose with the electorate was 1996 and in the last week of that campaign, in desperation, they made some inaccurate claims about future Howard government cuts.  From memory this involved Treasurer Ralph Willis being duped by letter supposedly written by Jeff Kennett that supposedly outlined planned cuts to be made by John Howard, but which was in fact a forgery.  It seems that now, with less than two weeks to go before the election, and being in a similarly parlous position, they've gilded the lily again, this time trying to question Opposition costing figures, but the bureaucracy has called them out.  As a Labor supporter and voter, I would have hoped they'd remember the mistake they made late in the 1996 campaign, when they overplayed their hand.  Admittedly they were going to be beaten then, but that monumental gaffe cost them seats.  Subsequently they just lost the 1998 election, which might have had a different result if they hadn't had so many seats they needed to win, after the 1996 landslide.  Labor, when losing power, federally, remind me of the gambler who, having had a bad day on the punt, increases his/her stake as the last race of the day beckons (the 'get out stakes' it is known as) to recover their losses, but they only end up in a worse losing position than would otherwise have been the case.