Post-election wrap ups

* Amongst all the triumphalism of Alan Ramsey's column this morning (he had to get an election result right eventually), there is a funny quote useful for all who dislike Brendan Nelson:

John Stone, a former National Party Senate leader, was moved to say of Nelson: "He reminds me of Andrew Peacock without the substance."

* Michael Duffy casts a cynical eye over professional political punditry generally. (I think he has written about this research before, hasn't he?, but it's good to be reminded.)

* Greg Sheridan is probably the first columnists to put a bit of blame on Costello and him supporters for doing their bit to undermine Howard's leadership. Fair enough too, I think.

* On Radio National breakfast yesterday, Gerard Henderson was firmly in the "it really was all Howard's fault for not going earlier" camp too. I thought he might be a bit more cautious about this, although it's undeniably true that if Howard was mostly concerned with looking good by leaving while at the height of his powers, he did make a mistake.

The thing that everyone seems to leave out of the equation is whether Costello really could have overcome his famous (if unjustified) unpopularity with the public. Julia Guillard pointed this out on election night: she thought it was fanciful to think Costello could have won it for the Coalition; if anything, she believes he could have made the loss worse.

Sure, Paul Keating managed the trick, but look at the help he had from John Hewson's scaring the horses by talking up a new tax.

Costello versus Rudd would in no way have been the same dynamic.

* I still make the point, however, that the main players in the Coalition are taking the loss with a relatively high degree of grace. The press this morning has the headline "Howard's fault: Costello." Well, it is the implication of what Peter is saying, but you really have to watch or read the interview to see that he certainly does not seem bitter and twisted about it.

* Finally, you would have to have a hard heart not to be moved by the video summary of Matt Price's funeral that is on News.com this morning. Brought a tear to my eye, that's for sure.

Incidentally, has anyone else noticed that Tim Blair seems not to have commented on Price's death on his blog? Seems peculiar. (Speaking of Blair, his post-election column is pretty good.)