The Sydney Morning Herald reports …
Mr Rudd announced Mr Beattie would stand in the first week of the campaign, pushing aside Labor’s preselected candidate Des Hardman.
Billed as a coup by Labor, it was hoped in the ALP that Mr Beattie would not only win Forde but drive up Labor’s vote across Queensland, where it needs to pick up at least six seats from the Coalition to have any chance of a victory on September 7.
But the eleventh-hour substitution may achieve the opposite.
A poll by JWS Research suggests the coalition will win the seat with a landslide.
bobmcgee 