For the sake of the party, go with Tash

So the Democrats are thrown back into a contest for the protest vote they lost to One Nation last time. Stott Despoja is the only way to get it back for two reasons.

First, the GST decision in particular is holding the Democrats back and it is impossible for Lees to disclaim it. But Stott Despoja has never been party to it. She is a genuine fresh start in this respect. She also advances policies that sit well with One Nation protest voters.

One of the reasons that Hanson does well is that she is virtually a walking focus group. What ever people say to her she feeds back to all of us. Her agenda in terms of economics, employment, social welfare, immigration and race would be held by 60 to 70 per cent of the population. Little wonder because it is the agenda that any mainstream politician would have espoused up until the `60s - what Paul Kelly refers to in The End of Certainty as the "Deakinite Settlement" - and is still intuitive to many. With the exception of race issues, there is a lot of similarity to what Stott Despoja believes. It is an agenda opposed to "Economic Rationalism" and the various reforms of the `80s and `90s, and one which Lees is incapable of carrying because of her dealings with government.

Second, the Democrats will also be struggling for newspaper inches, radio megahertz and television and internet pixels. In the world of third party politics, earned media is particularly important. Major parties can spend millions on Radio and Television advertising, pamphletts and direct mail, third parties can't. Stott Despoja fascinates the media in a way that Lees doesn't. She has that celebrity quality that Hanson also has. And as Hanson proves, celebrity translates into protest votes.

While it might not be fair, and it might be sexist, in the modern world of celebrity politics, when you are playing your cards, a blonde is more likely to trump a red-head than a brunette is. For the Democrats this election is all about tearing voters back from Pauline Hanson. Their survival depends on it. They need their best card at the top of the pack. For Lees that means "Go Fish".