Australia in the Crosshairs; National security hasn't been a big issue in the Oz campaign. Will that change?

Byline: Melinda Liu And Joe Cochrane (With Melissa Roberts in Sydney)

Will the deadly bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta create a "Madrid effect" in elections Down Under? The Oct. 9 vote is being hotly contested. Incumbent prime minister and staunch U.S. ally John Howard has been neck and neck with Labor Party challenger Mark Latham. After the blast, the rivals momentarily shelved their campaigning to close ranks and jointly denounce terrorism. In a rare display of bipartisanship, both sides' foreign ministers flew to Jakarta.

But in the past Howard and Latham have crossed swords over the war against terror. Latham has vowed publicly to bring Australia's 850 troops in the Iraqi theater "home by Christmas," displeasing Washington and prompting critics to warn that he was inviting a Madrid-style terror attack. (Earlier this year deadly train bombings in Madrid on the eve of a general election helped sway voters to support the opposition, which quickly pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq.) The Jakarta attack came just two days short of the third anniversary of the 9/11 tragedies, and just before the Sept. 20 presidential runoff elections in Indonesia. Jakarta police blame Southeast Asia's Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah for the bombing--and specifically, the JI's master bombmaker, Azahari Husin. (He was also allegedly involved in the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that left 202 people dead, including 88 Aussie tourists.)

A large majority of Australians were opposed to an Iraq war prosecuted ...