Just four years ago the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was flying high with strong public support under then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Now, its historic victory in the last Lower House general election now just a memory, the LDP couldn't be in a worse state, poised to be toppled from power by the Democratic Party of Japan in the Aug. 30 election.
Plagued by gaffes and flip-flops, Prime Minister Taro Aso, the LDP president, has seen his support rate drop from virtually the moment he took office almost a year ago, taking his party down with him.