ANNA Bligh has conceded she is in a battle to protect future Labor leaders as the LNP mounts a strategy to wipe them out.
The Premier declared she was "not contemplating failure" despite successive polls predicting a Labor bloodbath that could wipe out leadership hopefuls Andrew Fraser, Cameron Dick and Kate Jones, the Courier Mail reports.
"I'm going out there to win every single vote we can and to do everything I can to hang on to every member of my team," Ms Bligh said.
The ALP has battled to entice candidates in strong Liberal National Party seats considered unwinnable ahead of a probable landslide defeat on March 24, while the Opposition has already bled two candidates even before the campaign begins.
The LNP confirmed at 6.15pm last Friday that Logan candidate Peter Anderson-Barr had stood down.
It later emerged the former policeman had allegedly hit a handcuffed man in the face after being spat on at the Surfers Paradise police post.
Two weeks earlier, the party employed the same late-night strategy when announcing Broadwater candidate Richard Towson had been forced out after he was caught drink-driving.
Fifteen of the state's 89 seats were still without ALP candidates as recently as two weeks ago, but all bar four of those were locked in during Labor's administrative committee meeting last Friday.
The party is yet to find nominees for the staunch LNP seats of Gympie, north of the Sunshine Coast, and Moggill in western Brisbane with a candidate also needed for Maryborough.
There has been a flurry of interest in the more winnable Mt Ommaney seat - vacated by retiring Labor MP Julie Atwood - and nominations will close on Wednesday.
Read more at the Courier Mail.
