Elections in Australia went well!

As y'all know, the elections in Australia went very well (i.e. Kevin Rudd and the Labor party won). What we all wonder know is what other center-left parties can learn from the campaign.

E.J. Dionne has already written an article about it, in which he underlines the need to win the decisive swing-voters, while mobilizing you base at the same time. I agree with his analysis:

”While Rudd's centrism wooed swing voters, new political energies were unleashed through innovative organizing efforts on the left. The unions' "Your Rights At Work" campaign mobilized especially the middle- and working-class neighborhoods where Howard had done well in the past. A Web-based group called "Get Up!" organized young progressives.

The efforts paid off. Kristina Keneally, a minister in the Labor state government in New South Wales, said that in Howard's own district of Bennelong, "some polling places had over 50 volunteers between Labor, Get Up and Your Rights at Work." Rudd has to keep his core promises to the unions and his pledges of economic sobriety to middle-of-the-road voters -- and not disappoint either.”

You can read the whole article here.

The elections in Denmark...

...did not result in a new government. You can read my take on it in Swedish here.

Elections in Denmark

Tomorrow Tuesday there are parliamentary elections in Denmark. If you understand Danish, here are a few progressive (i.e. social democratic) blogs:
Jens Steen, a really good friend of mine since the days when I was active in SSF.
Dan Jørgensen, one of our sharper MEPs.
Jacob Bjerregaard, leader of the Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU).
Peter Strauss, also a friend from DSU.
Kristian Madsen, previous president of DSU.
But unfortunately it seems like sharp and cool Trine Bramsen has closed her blog.

I am of course hoping that Helle Thorning Schmidt, leader of the Social Democrats, will become new prime minister. Her basic message is that welfare is more important than tax cuts and her government would not be dependent on the xenophobic Danish ”People’s Party”. Moreover, it would be great with yet another strong woman in a leading position in Nordic politics (Finland has a female President, Sweden and Iceland has women as leaders for their respective social democratic parties).

I just got a text message from my friend Jens Steen and he says that the TV-debate yesterday went well for the opposition, and that there is a new TV-debate tonight (the ”real” one that everybody watches). He thinks that the election will be really close but is far from sure that the progressive side will win. But the campaign seems to be working well.

We will see tomorrow.

Two big things, and now (s)chool policy

Two big things have happened in my life recently; I have bought an apartment with my girlfriend and I have been on a great vacation to Argentina and Uruguay with two friends from the US (the highlight was my very good friend Lukas’ wedding). That explains the lack of blogging for a while.

However, this weekend the social democratic party has a big gathering about school policy in Stockholm. I am there of course, blogging at www.aip.nu. See you there, all Swedish-speakers.