They say Labor will be hindered at this election because Rudd was dumped and there might be some sort of sympathy for the ex-Prime Minister.

The Sunday Mail is reporting that most Queenslanders think Rudd’s dumping will affect Labor’s chances (Sunday Mail story here).

Do people really care if a leader is dumped so close to an election? It might be because I am conservative in nature, but the people I speak to had had enough of the little twerp and his tongue flicking vulgarity.

Let’s look at a prime example from history to test the theory people will switch votes because a Labor leader was dumped.

Bob Hawke deposed another unpopular Queenslander, Bill Hayden, after PM Fraser had called the election in 1983. Hawke went on to win in a landslide against the Coalition just 25 days after he was elevated to Opposition Leader.

Hayden was made Foreign Affairs Minister in the Hawke Government.

The way Gillard obtained her office wasn’t pretty, but an overwhelming majority of Australians just didn’t think Rudd was up to the job.

The biggest punishment for the ALP would have come should the Party have decided to keep Rudd; the electorate would have viewed Gillard as weak and the Labor Party as non-responsive to community concerns, in short arrogant.

The greatest problem from the Labor Party is what to do with a talented (relative to others on his side of politics) former Prime Minister hanging in the breeze.

You see this is the problem; dunce political operatives don’t have a lot of foresight when executing politicians that are just getting into their stride, like Rudd was. If someone with talent is cut loose too early there is always a risk they might go rouge. It can be assumed that talented politicians may actually have real support in the broader political landscape that emboldens them.

What Labor would have been better to have done was slip Rudd into Gillard’s portfolio and reshuffle after the election. Either that or disendorse (which I am told is not a word but one with which I am all too familiar with) him for Griffith for being, well, Rudd-like. I am sure there’s a rule against being Rudd-like in Labor’s little red handbook.

Keeping Rudd inside the tent under Cabinet solidarity principles would have at least kept him from a rouge spray (see this report in The Australian).

What will be interesting today is seeing what Sunday morning footage of Gillard will be used to make voters’ soften their view of her. Gillard does not believe in attending church like Rudd did (and no doubt will today), so perhaps she’ll spend her Sunday at the markets, like most Australians do these days.