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THE POLL BLUDGER MAYO
Mayo was created with the enlargement of parliament in 1984, taking Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula from their long-standing home of Barker. Neither Barker nor Mayo has ever been held by Labor. Alexander Downer entered parliament as the inaugural member for Mayo in 1984, and has had easy double-digit wins at each election apart from his remarkable near-defeat by Democrats candidate John Schumann in 1998. The former lead singer of folk group Redgum, of “I Was Only Nineteen” fame, Schumann added 10.0 per cent to the electorate's already strong Democrats vote and overtook the Labor candidate, finishing 1.7 per cent short of victory after preferences. The Democrats polled a more typical 14.8 per cent in 2001, before collapsing to 1.8 per cent in 2004. | |