Many Liberals have noted how impressively Julie Bishop has performed over the past months. The Deputy Opposition Leader stepped up at a critical time when Tony Abbott seemed floundering under Labor's vicious campaign to paint him as a woman hater. Her forensic probing of Julia Gillard on the AWU scandal was brutally effective on its own terms, but also helped to mute Labor's misogyny attack, which now looks more like the Battle of the Bulge in its last days. The rise of Bishop continues today, with a broadening of her image: The interview. Abbott is fortunate. Having looked too often like a one-man band, he's found key members of his team performing more strongly. There is Bishop, of course. But shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey not only looks better than ever, thanks to radical weight-loss surgery, but is taking paint off Wayne Swan. He won Stunt of the Week by toting around a great bundle of documents listing every instance of Gillard and Swan promising a surplus this year, and he was also devastating in attacking Labor for sending out taxpayer-funded pamphlets which lied about having delivered the surplus already. But praise also to Malcolm Turnbull. He looks less angry and hungry for Abbott's job and more the team player. He always had the gifts - the intellectual heft - to be one of the Opposition's most effective communicators, especially to the ABC crowd. If he gets the Opposition's broadband policy right, he could do be a particularly potent asset. Scott Morrison, of course, has always give the Opposition full service. i suspect Abbott feels more than ever that he really does now have a team. Indeed, an alternative government.