Portents look bleak for Labor campaign hopes - The Australian

JULIA Gillard has fired the starter's gun on the longest election campaign in the nation's history - even though the precedents give her little cause for optimism.

Robert Menzies revealed the date for the 1954 election 93 days ahead of polling day. The Liberal vote fell by 2.31 per cent. The Country Party's dropped too, by 1.2 per cent.