Went to early vote yesterday and the Teal volunteers were everywhere.
For every Liberal/Labor volunteer handing out how to votes, there were three or four Teals and mostly women.
If nothing else, the Teals have already and are still demonstrably handing out a lesson and schooling the majors that what’s required for a successful campaign, is money, marketing, manpower, professionalism and enthusiasm. But mostly money and lots of it.
And they have all five in abundance.
Yesterday, in basketball or sporting parlance, they “flooded the zone”. That is, all their people were gathered, huddled and swarming to intercept when and where required.
They owned the real estate in the immediate vicinity of the polling place both in terms of people and an absolute sea of signage.
The entire campaign has been to successfully create the perception that they’re the only game in town.
It’s GetUp for grownups. Getup on steroids.
And to the extent that it shakes up the Liberals and Labor parties with a well deserved boot up the bracket, that’s a good thing because for far too long Liberals have ignored their blue ribbon seats and Labor has given them up as a lost cause.
From where the Teals have sprung is still something of a mystery. They’ve come out of nowhere to lay a king hit on the Liberals.
The entire evolution of the movement has been like one of those creepy fields of mushrooms that just pop up out of nowhere overnight after the rain. Almost before your very eyes.
This has been their third go-round at both the federal and state level in this area and in the real sense it has been a “pop-up” political phenomenon that post election, goes back into hibernation until next time.
I’ve said it before. Their ground game and organisation, buoyed by their enthusiasm and money is excellent.
Their marketing with their static illuminated signs on phone booths and their illuminated three way mobile billboards on purpose built trucks are all very classy and are all over Mackellar and Warringah on the northern beaches of Sydney.
Corflutes are like confetti, nailed, screwed, stapled and cable tied to anything and everything.
The American phenomenon of window and yard signs is also something that is new to the Australian political campaign landscape.
The entire campaign is dripping with dollars.