Krusty the Clown and the rise of Mr Xenophon

The former lawyer and Prince Alfred College boy is smart and erudite. While advocating for ‘No Pokies’ he has also attacked politicians perks, thereby siding with the battlers who think MP’s sit quaffing wine all day while their superannuation balloons.

While Mr Xenophon has not rocked the SA Parliament with innovative legislation - it's difficult as an independent, which he’ll also find as an independent Senator in Canberra - he is, though, the master of the visual news grab. He has used goats, toy cars, trains and giraffes as visual props with stunning effect.  Like a theatre director, he uses the steps of Parliament House on North Terrace as a stage to lampoon or deride whoever or whatever he likes with impunity. The local TV media lap it up.

Greg Kelton, the State Editor of the Adelaide Advertiser told the 7:30 Report:

"They (the stunts) work bloody well for him, especially the gravy train (stunt). I thought it was a great one when it fell over."

Back in the 1960s and 70s, The Advertiser was the newspaper of record. It wouldn't have dared covered such blatant stunts, but now, as a tabloid, Mr Xenophon's antics get a good run - or they did until last week.

The Sunday Mail (The Advertiser’s Sunday paper) published an extraordinary editorial with the headline 'Why Mr X does not deserve your vote'. It appears that Mr Xenophon’s campaign is coming unstuck.  The American playwright Arthur Miller once said, "A good newspaper is like a nation talking to itself."

What sort of conversation has the Adelaide media been having with the public about Mr Xenophon?

When researching this story, I found almost no criticism or in-depth analysis of Mr Xenophon’s policies by any of the major electronic media over the past six years. He’s Teflon.

Mr Xenophon appeals to the underdog while at the same time espouses a Christian ethic. He's pro-family values and pro-green. He doesn't want to raise taxes, but he wants to solve SA's water crisis. Mr Xenophon’s a conservative, a radical and a mate.

He's like Family First's Senator Steve Fielding - but smarter. Fielding only polled about 2 percent of the Victorian Senate vote, yet got in on ALP preferences. Mr Xenophon has popular support. 190,000 people voted for him at the last state election and his running mate, the anti-drugs campaigner Ann Bressington, was elected as well.