POLLS suggest WA Labor leader Mark McGowan will need a MacGyver-like miracle to win the West Australian election on March 9.
MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson, will be in Perth for Oz Comic-Con on March 9 - the day of the state election.
And as campaigning by the major parties started in earnest this week, McGowan may need to borrow some of the TV detective's improbable improvisational skills if he is to fashion an unlikely election win out of what seems a hopeless predicament.
The latest Westpoll this week showed the coalition with a huge 59 to 41 two-party-preferred lead over Labor, with Mr McGowan earning a 35 per cent approval rating from those questioned.
That is just two points higher than his predecessor Eric Ripper, who was shunted last January, with former Liberal senator-turned-lobbyist Noel Crichton-Browne labelling him one of the worst leaders in WA Labor history after a poor performance in opinion polls.
And so while grumbles still simmer around Colin Barnett's premiership, and internal polling suggests a much closer race in the state's marginal seats, an alternative government seems impossible to contemplate for the WA electorate.
"The Labor Party have to begin to cut through, but the policies they have put up so far seem to be insipid, inconsequential, irrelevant, trivial - they don't go to the heart of the issues that change people's votes," said Noel Crichton-Browne, former Liberal senator turned influential WA lobbyist.
"Mark McGowan has a very poor standing, which is reflective on the Labor Party.
"What does he stand for? Tell us where he stands on the carbon tax. Tell us where he stands on the resources rent tax. Tell us whether he is going to stand up to the federal Labor government.
"Get away from the notion that he is weak, that he vacillates on issues, he is not committed to anything, that he lacks gravitas, he lacks seriousness, he lacks standing, and he lacks presence.
"He does not look like a leader, or like a premier."
Appearing alongside MacGyver at the March 9 Oz Comic-Con event will be William Shatner, whose most famous role was as the autonomous leader of a diverse but obedient crew far from anywhere in the original Star Trek series.
Of course Mr Barnett is no James T Kirk.
But it is WA's enterprise and booming economy that has enabled him to launch a transformative development of Perth and beyond in the past four years, while also becoming a major political thorn in the side of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Since stunning then-Premier Alan Carpenter in 2008, Barnett's vocal dissent against the supposed federal cash grab out of WA has raised his profile both at home and in the east - a little too far for the comfort of some.
Various controversies along the way, like the claim air-conditioning in Perth was not essential, or naming the city's $2.6 billion riverside development after Queen Elizabeth with no consultation, have led to the tag of 'Emperor Barnett', along with a new $26 million office to complete the image.
According to Mr Crichton-Browne, the premier's monarchical air is both a major strength and an Achilles' heel.
"Colin has some failings - he gives the impression he is uncaring and insensitive, and that he can't tolerate another view," Mr Crichton-Browne said.
"But he is very able, he is very competent, he is across the suite of all portfolios, he is head and shoulders above everyone else in politics in WA."
Without the intervention of MacGyver, a cauliflower crate, some old air conditioning piping and a chainsaw, Mr Barnett appears set to stay there.
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