Vote 1 Ron Kind

As this year whooshes to a close, NSW residents are facing a rare conjunction in the new year - both a State and Federal election in one year.

Spare a thought for our American cousins (never forget that statistically, for every bible-thumping, Fox News-watching, flag-hoisting, Iraq-bombing Good Ol' Boy, there's slightly more than one other person who didn't vote for George W. Bush in 2000), for two main reasons:

1) They cop two elections in every electoral cycle (technically, three) - one for the President, and another, every even-numbered year, for the rest of government.

2) They must endure TV advertising campaigns that make the Liberal Party's screed against Labor's economic policies look like a simple schoolyard stoush. Such as This. And This. And, not to forget - This.

It'd be quite funny if ... well, actually, it's just quite funny.