This was published 13 years ago
Week on a political knife edge feels like a lifetime in limbo
After a federal poll like no other, The Sunday Age asked Victorian Liberal candidate Sarah Henderson to document her tumultuous week.
By Sarah Henderson
SATURDAY: It's been a long, cold and nerve-racking day. I've been travelling across the electorate working on polling booths since early morning and I am now sitting in the hotel room that I've booked for the night, glued to the television.
7pm: Kerry O'Brien is running through the early results of a federal election that will become like no other. Corangamite is mentioned and my heart races. My last close encounter with Kerry was when I'd worked as an ABC journalist and presenter at The 7.30 Report. Life is sometimes very surreal.
Sarah Henderson takes a break from the vote counting to watch her Geelong team at Skilled Stadium yesterday. Picture: Joe Armao
I reflect on the past 14 months since being preselected as the Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Corangamite. Challenging a sitting member in the most marginal Labor-held seat in Victoria was always going to be a tough contest. I knew the result would go down to the wire. What I didn't expect was the roller-coaster ride that was to follow.
10pm: I am at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club where dozens of Liberal Party members, supporters and friends have gathered. Many have spent the day in freezing conditions working on polling booths, some waking as early as 1am to make the necessary preparations. I convey the obvious, that the seat is on a knife edge.
''Corangamite could be one of the last seats to decide which way we go - we will just be hanging on for the fight of our life.''
I express my gratitude to the hundreds of people who have worked so hard and given so much of their invaluable time. By my side is my campaign director and the former Victorian minister, Ian Smith, who has worked tirelessly from the beginning. Not far away is Senator Michael Ronaldson who, as Corangamite's patron senator, has given me such great support and guidance.
The room is full of excitement and anticipation. Early results had shown a 1.1 per cent swing to the Liberals. Then the swing softened. And now we've just discovered that I am level pegging with Labor on a two-candidate preferred result of 50:50.
I try not to think about the fact that the Liberals' primary vote is so far in front and that it is the Greens' preference deal with Labor that has left us in such a perilous position.
12am: I am back at my hotel with my partner Simon, sister Jo, brother Andrew and various friends and relatives. I am so tired. It's been an exhausting campaign travelling from one end of the electorate to the other - from Geelong to Meredith, Queenscliff to Colac, Cape Otway to Smythesdale.
The election coverage on the TV in the foyer continues. Julia Gillard speaks and then Tony Abbott. Support for Labor has collapsed and it's clear we have a hung parliament.
THE PAST WEEK After going to bed on Saturday night thinking I am in the right position to win the seat, I awake to discover a text message from my good friend Alister Paterson, the former member for South Barwon and my old Channel Ten news-reading partner from the late '80s.
The news was not good. I had dropped back to 49.2 per cent of the two-candidate preferred vote, with Labor now ahead by some 1200 votes. On Monday, the crawl-back of votes begins. With up to 20,000 absentee, pre-poll and postal votes still to be counted, this seat is too close to call.
Our first round of postal votes brings great news: we secure 56.5 per cent of the vote and are now only 600 behind. By mid-week we are sitting just 561 votes behind. We are back in the race and enter the ''close seats'' category on the website of the Australian Electoral Commission.
I can't stop thinking about my beautiful mother who died eight years ago. In 1999, she lost her state seat of Geelong by 16 votes, allowing Steve Bracks to negotiate with three independent MPs and form a minority government. I hope and pray I will see a reversal of fortunes this time around, both in Corangamite and for an Abbott government.
Tony Abbott calls me with words of encouragement: ''You're doing well. Just keep going.'' I tell Tony I wish there was something more I could do to influence the outcome. But all I can do is wait.
Surprisingly, my Labor opponent, Darren Cheeseman, starts to attack my campaign in the media. I refute his claims that we have spent more than he has and yet he continues to cast himself as ''David'', caught up in a David and Goliath battle.
We find this all very amusing given the public face of his campaign is Julia Gillard and given he is the incumbent with a fully staffed office, all the resources of government and $130,000 in taxpayer-funded entitlements.
By Friday, after the counting of some absentee votes that favoured Labor, I am now 912 votes behind and things are not looking good. The calls that Labor has won Corangamite are echoing. While I have not given up all hope, it's clear we will need a significant turnaround.
It's now Saturday and I take my last look at the AEC website before filing this report. I am at Skilled Stadium watching the mighty Cats but it's hard to feel on top of the world. Labor's lead has slightly increased and my chances of winning the seat are diminishing.
Late in the afternoon I have pulled a few votes back; I am buoyed by those around me and the many messages I have received. ''Don't give up,'' they say. ''There are still many more votes to count.'' I have made that decision already. I will not give up.