Paul Kelly on Kevin Rudd's pretence that he is the challenger, not the incumbent. The "new way," and not the old government: Rudd is totally convinced he saved the nation from recession.... He frames his latest claim - to manage the great transition post-resources boom - amid these convictions. Can Rudd succeed in his strategy of campaign audacity? There are two problems. First, Rudd so far has offered virtually nothing to explain how Labor is best placed to manage the post-boom transition. It cannot be Gillard's record because he refuses to run on Gillard's record. His only offering has been a flimsy new competitiveness agenda, too vague to have traction and too great a reversal of Labor policy to have credibility.... By declaring economic managment the prime issue, Rudd reveals the size of his own ego but he takes a huge risk. He runs on the Coalition's area of traditional advantage at the time the economy is slowing with unemployment rising and investment confidence weak. When will Rudd put some real policy grunt behind his claim on what he says is the central issue of this election? Just for the record, pumping subsidies into manufacturing doesn't cut the mustard and won't persuade the public. That sounds like yesterday, not tomorrow. Second, many of the problems Rudd faces have their origins in his first stint as PM. He seeks re-election on the basis of "who do you trust" but this invites scrutiny of Rudd's own record. Terry McCrann on the the causes of the serious lack of business confidence: The first was the decision to announce the September election date at the start of the year... Worse, the decisions were taken not on any substantive policy basis, but simply to ... try to patch over a huge increase in the bottom line budget deficit.