What to do when your opponent is presenting the smallest of small targets - and successfully getting away with it - and the electorate has stopped listening to you? Answer: Pick a fight.

The politics of picking a fight underlies much of Julia Gillard's strategic thinking lately.

Picking fights: Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. Credit:Getty Images

Picking fights helps draw attention to what Labor wants to do, and - at least in theory - might draw Tony Abbott into debating the issues Labor wants to talk about.

Frustratingly for Labor, the Coalition leader keeps dodging the arguments it is so desperately trying to have.