Only days away from the federal election now and polling indicates the Howard Coalition Government will be returned.

Theory 1: Half the voters are happy because they have enough money while half of those without enough money are too scared to vote for change in case they end up with less money.

Theory 2: The media has really gotten in behind the Liberal Govt and these Australians love to back their winners. (Apparently they used to like the underdog, but this must have been in the pre-Howard days of egalitarianism and short shorts). For example last week Nine News opened with "... Mark Latham's last roll of the dice today..."

Theory 3: The Howard Govt advertising has been a lot better than Labor's. The highlight has been to convince the electorate that Labor equals double-digit interest rates. Pure genius. 

Theory 4: Lack of policy difference. If everyone's gonna be right-wing then why not go with the guys who do right-wing the best.

Theory 5: Too many state Labor governments.

Theories 6 through 15: Miscellaneous. The weather has been good - sunny with a bit of rain to ease the drought. The Olympians did a splendid job and the cricket team still rules. No Australians (apart from the odd left-wing journo who probably deserved it anyway) killed in Iraq. About the right number of Australians killed in Indonesia to make Australians worried but few enough attacks at home to make them feel like they're being looked out for.

Theory 16: Constant rejoicing in the building up of a surplus (never mind running down of infrastructure).

Theory 16: Centrebet says so.