Howard should have gone
It looks like Howard is going to stick around for the federal election. Dennis Shanahan gives the full sorry story. The short version is that Howard asked Downer to check the opinions of senior Liberals. Many thought that it would be best to shift to Costello. Downer reported this to Howard, but Howard decided not to walk and none of the Liberals wanted to push him. So he stays.
Some conservatives in the media, such as Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechtsen, have read the situation correctly and want to see Howard step down for Costello. Though it’s not clear that Costello really wants to take the leadership now. Kim Beazley predicted that Costello would be Prime Minister for 2 months.
