Contest of ideas? No, contest of faction heavies Labor's machine men marshal the numbers for Shorten: THE nation's powerful right-wing unions are mobilising ALP members to vote for Bill Shorten in the rank-and-file leadership ballot, while parliamentary caucus members are being obliged to vote along factional lines more than at any other time in recent history to back the former union leader... But two ALP figures from the right wing of the party, Gillard government minister Craig Emerson and former Labor MP for Brisbane Arch Bevis, have come out in support of [the Left's Anthony] Albanese ... and influential former union leader Greg Combet officially launched in Sydney the campaign for Mr Albanese to be leader... During a visit to Melbourne's Western Autistic School yesterday, Mr Shorten said he had a majority of caucus members to sign his nomination... It is understood that Mr Shorten has at least 54 per cent of the caucus vote. That's odd. Didn't both candidates announce this would be a "contest of ideas"? Then why has Shorten got the numbers sewn up even before any debate?