Did you know that Julia Gillard loves to watch Oprah and Tony Abbott’s favourite colour is silver teal?

I didn’t either, mainly because I just made it up. (Is silver teal even a colour?) I was trying to open this post up with some new, interesting facts about our dear leader and her greatest rival so you might keep reading.

Don’t leave me… please...I feel the same way.

The election’s coming up and I have mixed emotions. It can be exciting, but speaking on behalf of the 7pm writers, I’m being brutally honest when I say election time is tricky. Making federal election material seem fresh, to put it charmingly, can be like polishing a poo. 31 days of kissing babies, slagging off the opposition, and images of Gillard and Abbott taking morning tea at day care centres and nursing homes is hardly riveting stuff.

Sure, the weeks before the election are vital for voters and politicians, but gee whiz it can be challenging to remain interested. Preferences, surplus, promises, taxes, policies, trade, economy, jobs, slogans, asylum seekers, WorkChoices, carbon trading, nuclear power, religion, Speedos and hair... are you still with me? One party says something, the other says they’re wrong.

I love the Internet and everything weird and mental that lives there, but sitting on it for 8 hours a day has dented my mind. I have a short attention span. I like my information fast and concise. Hold the BS.  No spin thanks (fat chance). Is it ridiculous for me to want to get to know the real candidates? The people behind the handshakes?

If there was a Julia vs Tony, The Hills-style reality show, I’d definitely watch it. A fly-on-the-wall doco that captures them at their most normal, in their office, eating dinner, Tony pumping up the tyres of his bike, Julia maintaining her hair, practising speeches in the bathroom, calling the Greens to negotiate preferences. It'd be ace and I reckon it would be a really easy way to help people decide who they would vote for. Oh look, Tony eats margarine…I don’t like margarine, I’m voting for Julia. Oh no, Julia uses pen to fill in her Sudoku…she’s dead to me.

Last night I watched a Tony Abbott interview where I felt on the cusp of seeing the real Tony, the man behind the persona. Just when he seemed genuine and real, something clicked and he put in a ‘and that’s what the Labor party won’t give you’ line. Damn you Tony…damn you.

The political advertisements have started. The forced smiles, sitting at picnic tables, talking to ‘normal’ Australians, slow motion close ups of unflattering ‘make the opposition look evil’ photographs, grumbly, fear mongering voice overs and the occasional attempt at humour (Abbott family - Addams family advertisement).

What’s next for the election? For me, I really hope one of them falls over or shuts their coat in the door of the car… at least that’d give us something else to talk about.

The opinions expressed in the 7pm Side Project blog do not necessarily reflect those of the 7PM Project or the Ten Network.