Despite a sense of certainty that Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be at the helm when she wakes up on September 14 parliamentary insiders on both sides of the Gillard/Rudd fence are embroiled in the silly battle of wills. Some are teetering, some have given up all sense of hope, some believe that Kevin Rudd can lead the ALP to victory, while others agree with Mark Latham that he is a tantrum-riddled “saboteur”.

The never-before-seen debacle that is the self-immolating ALP has exposed the ugliness of power politics and the interplay that both underwrites it and fuels it.

One frontbencher said to The Stringer, “We have been dying a death of a thousand cuts.”

“We have next to no hope. Whether it’s Julia or Kevin it’s a shambles.”

“What anyone worth their salt is fearing is the post-election analyses that will tear us to shreds and make it harder for the party to re-organise and recoup.”

“It’s pretty sad that we’re tearing ourselves to pieces because even after all the squabbling, self-serving agendas on show to the nation, after all the tearing ourselves apart the Coalition only has a ten point lead on us, and polls, internal and external show that we are in with a chance if we can get our act together even if it is under Kevin.”

But how many frontbenchers will support Mr Rudd in the event he is reinstated?

Today, senior federal ministers rallied behind Prime Minister Gillard as parliament gathered for its final sitting before the election.

But every ALP parliamentarian will admit that their members are talking leadership speculation and that some are driving for a change of leadership.

One member said that Mr Rudd and Prime Minister Gillard should team up as PM and Deputy PM and unite the party.

Another member said once Mr Rudd took over despite polls indicating the party was in with a chance at the election if he led that the polls would quickly change as many Australians would rethink the “musical chairs”.

Another member said as the election draws closer that the poll divide between the parties would contract but defeat was still on the cards despite whoever led. The same member said that what was most important at this time was to ensure the ALP “retained as many seats as possible in the national interest.”

Another member said that as long as Mr Abbott leads the Coalition the ALP “is in with a chance”. The member said that this remains the case unless Malcolm Turnbull takes over the leadership “all of sudden and then the horse will have bolted.”

“If the Coalition wanted to destroy us to just a remnant of ourselves they would install Malcolm as their leader. It would be a landslide victory to them. Too many of our members have been talking about him publicly as a knight in shining armour and if he were to lead we’d be ruined at this election.”

Members were today rocked by the unfavourable poll for Prime Minister Gillard. The Nielsen poll showed the ALP’s primary support falling to 29 points. The Nielsen poll show the Coalition’s primary vote up three points to 47 per cent, while the two-party preferred numbers put Labor at 43 per cent and the Coalition at 57 per cent.

An insider in Mr Rudd’s camp said they are buoyed by the news poll declaring that if Mr Rudd were reinstalled as the Prime Minister that the two-party preferred would go to 50-50.

Mr Rudd has been out there campaigning the house down, which is what all politicians should be doing, and he is publicly stating that “I will do everything I physically can to stop Tony Abbott” being elected Prime Minister.

But an insider in the Prime Minister’s camp said that Mr Rudd “is a spoiler, he is just generating trouble for us but if he were leader the polls would nosedive as people would reflect on how he got back to office.”

The insider also agreed with Mr Latham that Mr Rudd is a “saboteur”.

Some say the divide cannot be bridged but others say it can. One insider said that “unless the polls suddenly change somewhat favourably to Julia, then Julia and Wayne will have a tumult of dissent to deal with.”

“If the polls stay this bad when we finish up with ‘sitting’ (in two weeks) then stay tuned because if Julia and Wayne don’t make the call to step down, then Kevin backed by others including Simon (Crean) will call for a (leadership) spill.”

“Kevin is building numbers, he is not doing all this to show up Julia, he wants the job back, and he believes he can lead the party to some sort of moral victory.”

“Don’t buy into the ‘bullshit’ that Bill (Shorten) is the powerbroker here, that he has to tap on the shoulder and all that. The numbers and the dissent will speak for themselves in just over two weeks if there has been ‘no give’ in the meantime.”

“Members today are in disbelief at the polls because there was some expectation the numbers would improve after all the media on the menus (with their obscenities and vilification) and the Sattler incident (where he posed an outrageous slur about the Prime Minister’s partner).

“I believe the Prime Minister is doing a terrific job,” said Gary Gray.

“I am proud to be part of the Julia Gillard Government.”

“Julia Gillard is the right person to be the leader of our party and my view will not change and has not changed.”

Peter Garrett said, “Julia Gillard is our Prime Minister. My views have not changed.”

David Bradbury said, “I reckon (Prime Minister Gillard) has more leadership capabilities in her small finger than the collective bodies of those critics of hers that are out there.”

Chris Bowen, Martin Ferguson, Simon Crean and others consigned from the frontbench to the backbench are not alone in calling for leadership change. Frontbenchers are becoming increasingly worried as more backbenchers are speaking up. Darren Cheesman and John Murphy have called for leadership change.

Mr Rudd said, “My purpose in travelling around the country in support of Labor members and candidates is very basic.”

“It is do everything I physically can to stop Mr Abbott becoming the next Prime Minister of Australia.”

The writer of this article indulges: The next couple of weeks will be telling – but once again the nation is asked to sit idly by as politics degenerates to squabbling, leadership tussles and tit for tat not only within the ALP but also between the ALP and the Coalition. People drown at sea, people are locked up in detention centres, poverty is on the rise throughout the nation, homelessness is on the rise, imprisonment rates are on the rise, and much more but the nation’s most privileged individuals, our parliamentarians, are obsessed with who will become Prime Minister, who will govern rather than understanding politics as a calling and that the national interest should override self-aggrandisement.

Democracy needs proportional representation to erode monopoly politics – it needs for instance 75 female members and 75 male members in the House of Representatives. A similar divide in the Senate, and in all State and Territory Government jurisdictions, and at the local Government level. In Federal, State and Territory Government levels proportional representation should ensure Aboriginal parliamentarians at all times. A feature on proportional representation is pending.