Australia's elections Saturday brought defeat to its center-right Liberal Party and Prime Minister John Howard, an ally of President Bush.

Mr. Howard, 68, had been prime minister for more than 11 years. Not only did his party lose the election and the prime ministership to the Labor Party, but Mr. Howard lost the parliament seat he had held for 33 years.

It would be tempting for Bush critics to note the fall of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in 2004, British Prime Minister Tony Blair this year, and now Mr. Howard and draw the conclusion -- full of implications for Republican candidates in 2008 -- that Mr. Bush carries in elections the black cloud that cartoonist Al Capp drew over the head of Joe Btfsplk in the "Li'l Abner" comic strip.

It's more likely, however, that after 11 years Australians had simply become tired of Mr. Howard's leadership. The British sometimes show the same tendency after leaders like prime ministers Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and even Winston Churchill have been around a while. The Australian economy was going strong, and there was no substantive issue that appeared to spell the end for Mr. Howard.

His successor, Kevin Rudd, 50, a former diplomat who speaks Mandarin Chinese, has promised several changes of policy. Australia, a charter member of the so-called coalition of the willing, has 550 combat troops and 300 support forces in Iraq. Mr. Rudd has said he will withdraw the combat forces, but leave in place the support troops. He'll also leave 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan.

Mr. Howard had also kept Australia in line with the United States on global warming. Both countries had signed the Kyoto convention but not ratified it. Mr. Rudd says the Australian parliament will now ratify Kyoto and that he himself will travel to Bali next month for a summit on developing a successor treaty, the new prime minister's first trip abroad after the elections.

Mr. Rudd said he wants to visit the United States early next year to maintain the alliance. But he will join Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in differing with Bush policies like pursuit of the Iraq war that have become unpopular with their own electorates. That approach just claimed another victim in Mr. Howard.