It's almost time for cricket to re-emerge from ten months of the absurd. The Australian team for next Thursday's First Test against Sri Lanka at the Gabba has been announced. No huge surprises. Good to see Phil Jaques selected to partner Matty Hayden at the top of the order. No room for Katich following his 306 on the Paddington Highway on the weekend. The first pace attack of the post-Pigeon era is about as expected.

My focus today is on Tony Abbott, minister for health and aging, and honourable member for Warringah; and Peter Costello, federal treasurer and honourable member for Higgins.

First, Abbott and Costello debate themselves over the major issue of the day.
Second, the Invisible Man acts as stunt double for Abbott at the National Press Club.
Third, Costello is picked on by someone smaller than him who is not John Howard.
And finally, exclusive footage as Federal Cabinet calculate the size of a budget surplus.

Tony Abbott has had a Barry Crocker of a day today. Made to apologise to prominent asbestosis sufferer Bernie Banton, half an hour late for the health policy debate in Canberra at lunchtime because of a photo-op with JWH in Melbourne, and then heard swearing at his opposite number Nicola Roxon after said debate. The Sydney Morning Herald has a recap of the highlights of Bud's Halloween, and I hope to put together a Youtube Do Dia Abbott compilation later tonight.

My selection of election ads for today. Firstly, GetUp.org - the Australian copy of the US's MoveOn.org - got Lyn Allison, Bob Brown and Kate Lundy into the same ad (not all into the same shot) to support a vote against the Coalition in the Senate. Steve Fielding told Insiders on Sunday morning that he wasn't invited - would he have played ball anyway? And why did Labor send a nonentity such as Senator Lundy to do the GetUp gig? Why not John Faulkner, Penny Wong, or Stephen Conroy? (OK, not Conroy.)

I'm a Christian. I'm a supporter of the Greens. The two are by no means incompatible.

I believe firmly that church and state must remain separate bodies. They do, of course, interact. Religious organisations must conform to the laws of the land. Conversely, they are entitled, as much or as little as any other group, to provide input to the democratic process and to provide feedback to Government. Neither side of the ledger should abuse this relationship.

Monday's Sydney Morning Herald reports that Family First have disendorsed their candidate for the western Sydney seat of Reid, after a photo, apparently of the aspiring member displaying his private member, turned up on the internet.

"Look, maybe somebody photoshopped it, and put another one on the photo," Andrew Quah said. "I can tell you, it's not me. I know these things."

Don't let anyone tell you that we're at the end of the second week of the Federal Election campaign. It all began on December 4, 2006, the day that Kevin Rudd rolled Kim Beazley in the Labor Party caucus room. At the end of Week 46, here are my observations:

John Howard admits that his election ad about record low interest rates in 2004 was a porkie (pie, not barrel). But, but, there are excuses...

Another excerpt from Howard's interview with one of his favourite radio interviewers, 3AW's Neil Mitchell. With friends like these...

"I didn’t think I was being cranky. I was passionate and emphatic."

- John Winston Howard, when asked by 3AW's Neil Mitchell whether he was a "cranky old bugger" during last Sunday's debate, 26.10.07

Eleven years ago, he wanted everyone to be Relaxed And Comfortable.

Not long now, John... not long now.

We live in a truly golden age of politics.

An federal election contest in Australia between Me-One and Me-Two. A state government in New South Wales where the treasurer knows more about fictitious conspiracy theories than he does about economic globalisation. In New Zealand, when parliamentary debates get boring, they step into the foyer for a bit of biffo. And of course there's America, where the President creates a whole new language to speakify in, and inventorates whole new meanings for existicated words such as "torture".