For me, the worst day of any campaign is election day. After three years of intense, all-consuming activity the phones are quiet. There is nothing more I can do except worry. I visit a couple of marginal seats and examine the faces of those going in to vote. The reports from the booths are good, but I still go through the ‘what-ifs’ in my mind. For all the cynicism about politics, I believe this campaign was the most important in over a generation and the interest and engagement from the community indicated that Australians agreed. Over 150,000 Australians volunteered to help the Coalition. It was a huge community exercise, which gave me quiet confidence everything would turn out for the best.

Like most senior campaign people I know, there are rituals I observe and superstitions I monitor during the election. Part of my routine is to visit Sydney Town Hall on polling day. Every party running in the election is usually represented and a semi-circuslike atmosphere prevails. I collect each party’s how-to-vote card and to try to speak to as many of the volunteers as I can. For some reason, the Sex party and the LDP are not represented this time. The Socialist Alliance are up for a chat but the Pirates refuse to take the bait.

Tony Abbott was John Hewson’s press secretary and has bad memories of the1993 election. I remember watching the first results as they came in from Tasmania that night, unexpectedly showing Labor hanging on to their seats there. It was the first sign the Keating government would survive. The results were slow coming in this time and I nervously waited for some sign from Tasmania. Eventually the booths began reporting and it was clear the swing was on. I grew up in Corangamite in Victoria and our loss in 2010 was unfinished business for me. I know the booths there well and when they started reporting a swing it was clear it would be a good night.

It is not commonly appreciated what a sensitive, tactile sort of guy Tony Abbott really is. For me, this manifests itself in his addiction to man hugs. Most of the men in his office and his senior male colleagues just go with the flow and are regular recipients of an affectionate bear hug. Early on, I cut a deal to be exempt until 10pm on election night. As it turned out, I was able to inform our new Prime Minister he had a majority in the House of Representatives at about 8.45pm. My resistance weakened and I was rewarded with a memorable Abbott bear hug.

The most moving hug of the night was between John Howard and Tony Abbott. It was an emotional moment for those watching, marking the passing of the torch. John Howard had a great campaign. He was on the hustings virtually every day. Irrespective of how people voted in the past they wanted to meet him and talk to him. Many who were taken in by Kevin 07 came up to him apologising and expressing buyer’s regret. Within the Liberal family JWH continues to be known simply as ‘the PM’, potentially creating a problem of nomenclature for us. But it was Howard himself who during the evening provided the answer, referring to Tony Abbott at one stage as ‘28’ and himself as ‘25’. And so, like the Bush family, we Liberals will forever have ‘John 25’ and ‘Tony 28’.

Since election day I have frequently been asked for a simple one-line reason for our victory. There is no single reason for the result. It is the combination of multiple factors, each of which could have cost us votes had they not been in place. But here is what I consider the two most important: Tony Abbott is a leader. Simple to say, but so rare to see and fully understand in a politician. And secondly, very early on, the whole senior leadership team signed on to a clear strategy and stuck to it with a discipline uncommon to politicians, leaving the daily tactical skirmish to Labor. Strategy beats tactics and so it was on this occasion.

It is rare to find a consensus in politics, even more so after the three tough exhausting years we have just experienced. But all parts of politics are united in the need to examine the Senate voting system. It appears the Liberal Democrats have received 9 per cent of the vote in the Senate in New South Wales. In 20 years of professionally examining polling, I have never seen the LDP register a heartbeat of community support. Their vote has come almost entirely at the expense of the Liberal party. We strongly opposed their name change to include the word ‘Liberal’, arguing that it would create voter confusion. The Electoral Commission disagreed. But so it has proved. Microparties are an important part of the tapestry of our democracy, but their success should be built on informed voter support for their values and candidates not brand confusion, back-room deals or preference exchanges with dodgy front groups.

My Labor counterpart, George Wright, did the best he could with the cards he was dealt. For what it’s worth, in my experience, you learn as much from the campaigns you lose as those you win. George was based down the other end of Collins Street in Melbourne from us. Walking to work at 5am I would occasionally peer down the hill and, a bit like weary generals looking over the trenches, offer him a quiet salute. If anyone on the Labor side deserves a Senate spot, it is George.

One of the benefits of a September election is that I will be able to enjoy the Spring Racing Carnival for the first time in a while. I’m not sure what odds the bookies are offering on Kevin Rudd leading Labor at the next election, but I’ve told my team not to archive the K. Rudd files.