but most people I know either voted for Howard or predicted his victory.

Ok, I get your Nixon analogy now, but apart from the point you're making, the two men are very different in social philosophy, IMO. Nixon was certainly no Thatcherite, and was a mixture of thoughtful intelligence and cunning ruthlessnessness. Howard and his team are pretty much only the latter, which may be why he is despised by many. Then again that also applies to Labor, which was the point I was making in my previous post.

Australia is not known for its quality of politicians or its interest in social philosophy. As one letter-writer to a newspaper wrote after the election: We have now elected to live in an economy rather than in a society.

(Viz. Margaret Thatcher's famous remark that "There is no such thing as society")