Party Games: How to stage a political coup, knowing things couldn't be any worse under Rudd than Gillard RUDD FLAG: Just what is Kevin Rudd up to? WE are looking at the balloon at the moment. This balloon, which has Kevin Rudd written all over it, was launched late last week and came into sharp focus on Sunday. It's the leadership balloon and right now Labor MPs, other politicians and observers are staring at it, wondering how it got there and what it might represent. No one is prepared to shout that it's a balloon, even if everyone knows that's just what it is. Yesterday no one was saying much. The man who looked most like the guy who inflated the balloon, Victorian powerbroker and leadership aspirant Bill Shorten, had his office send out a note which said he still supported Julia Gillard. Nothing is likely to progress this week although Gillard will be quizzed about it when she appears at a Labor women's event aimed at galvanising support for her. The sisterhood is likely to be very cranky about her possible demise. Rudd probably wants it to happen in that last week, beginning on Monday, June 24 (the official third anniversary of Gillard's swearing in as PM), because he doesn't want any more than a day or two in the big chair in Question Time. The regime change forces, whose numbers grew significantly in recent days, do need to work out how they will get the message to Gillard and handle her reaction. No one taking calls has any idea how this might be done or who might do it. You would need one of those haz-chem suits the Telstra contractors are using to clean asbestos out of the footpath pits if you were willing to knock on Gillard's door. There is one other thing the regime changers have to think about and that's the narrative, to use a political word of the times. One of the things voters hated about the leadership coup in 2010 apart from the shock was that it was never explained or rationalised. Gillard never confided in the public about why she did it and what had gone wrong. The glib statement that Labor had "lost its way" was never satisfactory and increased the feeling people were denied a say in who runs the country. If Rudd is drafted he has to say why he is stepping up. "I can win more votes" is not good enough. He also must say how he would be different not just from Gillard but from our first experience of him as leader. There's no certainty a Rudd switch will work. The sugar hit might be short lasting and the revolving door look might make exasperated voters even more irritated. There is, however, a palpable sense things cannot be any worse with Rudd rather than Gillard and the likelihood is they will be better. This would make Rudd look like a hero and give the next generation of Labor leadership a slightly easier job of rebuilding. The balloon is still there and everyone is looking at it, intently.