Clive Palmer's run for PM will be titanic Clive Palmer is likely to have more luck relaunching the Titanic than launching a successful political party. CLIVE Palmer wants to be prime minister which is a disappointment to fans of the big miner who remember him aiming much higher. Palmer was a mouthpiece for the Joh for PM caper, one of the great chapters in Queensland politics going nuts, but more recently he's been swinging the cash bag for the LNP, stumping up funds for state and federal campaigns. A falling-out last year with Tony Abbott and Liberal federal president Alan Stockdale led to his estrangement from his party of choice but, being Clive, the million-possibly-billionaire has set up his own. He's using the name United Australia Party, the pre-World War II outfit which featured a couple of Labor turncoats - Billy Hughes and Joe Lyons - and crumbled to form the modern Liberal Party under Bob Menzies. Palmer says he'll stand for the Sunshine Coast's Fairfax electorate, which is fairly safe following the retirement of long-time MP Alex Somlyay. Palmer claims his party will contest most, if not all, lower-house seats and try for the Senate in all states. Whether he can put this kind of operation together in just under four months is hugely ambitious and would rewrite the history books. The more realistic assessment is that Palmer will lose interest and we won't hear a lot more about his ambitions - he has to get his party registered first which might itself be all too much. If Palmer did get some kind of political organisation going, say for Queensland, he would be up against the Katter Australian Party which already has a claim on the voters he's after. Palmer's target demographic is the disillusioned, once-were-Nationals or Labor voters who dislike Abbott and Julia Gillard as well as the homesick white-shoe brigade types. In many ways, Katter has a lock on many of these people and is recognisable as a successful politician - he's won at a national level and put in a credible performance at last year's state poll. This makes it very hard for Palmer to get his party off the ground, let alone win seats. He might have more luck relaunching the Titanic.