(Repeats item from Sunday with no change to text)
By James Grubel
CANBERRA, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott, a super-fit, marathon cycling politician likened to Russia's Vladimir Putin because he is regularly photographed topless, is tantalisingly close to taking power.
Abbott, 53, has built an election-winning lead in opinion polls with his relentless campaigning against Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her key policies, and he needs only one vote to swing his way in parliament to force an early election.
But a year after dead-heat elections, which saw Gillard scrape back into office with support from the Greens Party and three independents, Abbott is still looking for a crisis to help him bring down Australia's first female prime minister.
"He can feel the power, but he just can't reach it. He just has to be patient and he will be prime minister," said Monash University political analyst Nick Economou.
Abbott's proximity to the top job saw him on Friday named Australia's third most overtly powerful person by the Australian Financial Review newspaper, behind Gillard and central bank governor Glenn Stevens.
"Abbott is indefatigable, a Duracell battery bunny of negativity, who has actually taken the lead as preferred PM in the polls," the paper said.
Abbott is now looking to a crucial parliamentary vote in October on the government's bungled refugee policy to launch a new campaign to force Gillard out of office ahead of the next election, otherwise not due until late 2013.
FOCUS ON GOVT'S FAILINGS
Gillard, 50, is struggling to find the numbers to pass changes to migration laws to allow her to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia where they would have their refugee claims assessed. If the laws fail, they will be the first major government initiatives to be rejected by parliament.
Abbott has so far resisted pushing a vote of no confidence in parliament, which will force the dissolution of parliament if it is successful
He has said he will only do so when he is confident he can secure the numbers. To succeed, Abbott needs to break the loyalty of either a government lawmaker, or win over the Greens or one of the three independents who support the government.
Instead, he used debate on the Malaysian deal to launch one of his strongest attacks against Gillard and to repeat his case for an early election.
"A prime minister who is incapable of protecting the borders of our country is a prime minister who has manifestly failed in the highest task she has," he said. "Frankly it is a government and a prime minister who should resign."
Despite being one seat from power, Abbott has outlined few details of his plans for Australia should he achieve his goal and become prime minister. His strategy is to keep the focus on the government's failings, rather than open new debates about his own policies.
He has promised to unwind the government's carbon tax and carbon trade schemes if he wins office, and is also against a proposed 30 percent tax on iron ore and coal miners, due to be voted upon in parliament later this year.
He has promised tighter control of government spending, including cutting 12,000 public service jobs, and review construction of the A${esc.dollar}35 billion (${esc.dollar}34 billion) national broadband network.
The government says his promises will cost about A${esc.dollar}70 billion to implement and Abbott and his treasury spokesman Joe Hockey have so far refused to detail full costings or how his pledges will be paid for.
BOXER, TRAINEE PRIEST
Like Russia's Prime Minister Putin, Abbott has cultivated an action-man image, and is regularly photographed in lycra or just in swimming trunks.
He surfs, cycles and runs, usually rising at dawn for a bike ride before work, or fitting in a workout or run during the day. Each year he goes on a marathon bike ride of up to 1,000 km, stopping at country towns to meet voters and campaign.
A former journalist, Abbott was a Rhodes scholar who boxed for Britain's Oxford University and studied to become a Catholic priest before he turned to the media and politics.
He worked for a time for Rupert Murdoch's flagship The Australian newspaper before becoming a political adviser and then entering parliament in 1994, under the wing of former conservative leader John Howard.
Howard lost office in late 2007 and Abbott became conservative Liberal Party leader two years later on the back of his strident opposition to a price on carbon, a policy he continues to fight daily.
Abbott believes Gillard's government is fragile and could fall at any time. One heart attack could spark a by-election which could lead to a change of government.
But Monash University's Economou said without a sudden by-election, Gillard's government appears solid. The government also points out more than 200 bills have been passed in the past year, despite the slender margin in parliament.
"It's like a never-ending election campaign for Abbott," Economou said. "But the independents' and Greens' deals with Gillard are pretty solid, so there's no reason they won't stay in power for the full three-year term."
(${esc.dollar}1 = 1.018 Australian dollar) (Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)
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