'kevvy' Keeps A Lid On It As High-schoolers Mob New Kid In Class

The Age

Wednesday September 5, 2007

Ben Doherty

IT WAS a rock star's welcome. Scraps of paper were proffered in the hope of an autograph, hands were thrust forward for shaking, mobile-phone cameras clicked furiously.

No, it wasn't Bono, it wasn't even one of those soon-to-be-anonymous Australian Idol winners.

It was a politician. Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd was at Oberon High School in the Geelong suburb of Belmont yesterday.

By happy coincidence, the school lies in the federal electorate of Corangamite, a seat in Liberal hands by a now less-than-comfortable 5.4 per cent, and one that Labor reckons it can pick up when this year's federal election is finally called.

It was smack-bang in the middle of a school day, but not much classwork was done at Oberon while "Kevvy" was around.

He was at the school to talk about education, specifically Labor's trades training plan, but his was simply a re-announcement of an earlier policy - an emerging trend on both sides of politics in recent months, and a part byproduct of the "Clayton's campaign" holding pattern the country's politicians are in.

So, instead, it became something of a procession.

As Mr Rudd toured the school's art, metalwork and woodwork classes, he was tailed by an ever-growing swarm of high-schoolers, anxious to check out the new kid.

Students leaned over balconies to shake his hand; those caught at the back of the crush simply yelled encouragement.

"Howzit Kevvy?" one asked as he raced down the stairs, hand extended, grinning maniacally. "This is the most excited I've ever seen these guys, for anything," one teacher told The Age.

As the Opposition Leader helped a student paint a picture of a lizard - choosing a striking conservative blue - carefully crafted signs bearing his likeness and "Go Kev" were pushed against the window.

A more hastily conceived banner even asked for his hand in marriage.

It was the Kevin Rudd show. But how much yesterday's idolatry actually reflects the Australian political reality is debatable.

This was the cult of celebrity at work. Rudd is on television, he's in newspapers, he's even on Facebook, ergo, he's someone to be cheered and adored.

A bare handful of those who feted the Opposition Leader yesterday will vote this year; many will still not be eligible next time around.

All the excitement can perhaps even be dismissed as meaningless.

John Howard still gets mobbed when he visits schools, even as his party's poll figures, and his electoral prospects, slide deeper into the mire.

On the other hand, any form of popularity can be no bad thing and, in itself, has its own reward.

Like so many political fortunes, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy: popularity begets popularity.

However, it works the other way too. Once the tide of public opinion turns to run against a leader, it can be nigh on impossible to stop.

The Prime Minister is discovering this.

Yesterday, he conceded the latest poll numbers - showing his Government trailing at 41 per cent to Labor's 59 per cent, two-party-preferred - were "very bad for the Coalition", but he remained adamant his party was not without hope.

"I believe that when the election comes along, two things that will work in our favour will be the realisation that generally Australia is heading in the right direction . . . (and) we have a strong economy."

For his part, the Opposition Leader is trying his hardest not to get caught up in his current poll glory - "keeping a lid on it", as they are fond of saying down Geelong way.

"I've got to say the election now is very close, but I know for a fact and from experience that it will be very tight."