The weekly political mentions charts sure do bounce around from week to week as political editor Christian Kerr explains.

What a week on the charts, pop-pickers!

At Number One there’s the Prime Minister doing Abba’s On And On And On.
It was fascinating to hear him tell interviewers that he thinks it will
still be at the top of the charts during the APEC meeting in Sydney in
2007.

At Number Two there’s Kim Beazley. Last year’s Eagles’ tour told us something about the surprising popularity of revival acts.

Amanda Vanstone is Number Three with an incredible performance of Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein – recorded, amazingly, when she was in deep, deep water.

Peter
Costello is at Number Four. He’s one of those people who always is in
the Top 10 but never quite makes the Number One spot. Industry
insiders, however, say he has a track in the can that could blow us all
away – if he ever releases it. It’s a fascinating cover of Sparks’ This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us. Of course, it might just be one of those rock legends.

But
what about the Number Five, Jim Lloyd, who was way, way down the charts
at number 132 only a week ago. Incredible! Up 127 places in seven short
days.

We’ve all heard of Mississippi delta blues. Well
folks, this is the hip new sound. Tumbi Creek delta blues. We’re going
to hear a lot more of it. Tumbi Creek. What’s the betting Jim’s going
to dredge it for all it’s worth?

Who’s hot and who’s not: The Rehame Top 40 pols

Rank Name Mentions LW Mentions LW Rank
1 John Howard 4026 3148 2
2 Kim Beazley 1984 3159 1
3 Amanda Vanstone 1583 17 56
4 Peter Costello 992 690 4
5 Jim Lloyd 949 2 132
6 Brendan Nelson 790 125 18
7 Tony Abbott 437 558 6
8 John Anderson 388 324 9
9 Laurie Ferguson 384 26 43
10 Alexander Downer 260 737 3
11 Wayne Swan 247 212 12
12 Tony Windsor 232 374 8
13 Jenny Macklin 200 189 13
14 Chris Ellison 188 129 16
14 Malcolm Turnbull 188 4 103
16 Mark Vaile 172 70 26
17 Julia Gillard 150 218 11
18 Warren Truss 124 123 19
19 Kay Patterson 119 62 30
19 Stephen Smith 119 100 21
21 Lyn Allison 114 62 30
22 Petro Georgiou 98 0 160
23 Kevin Rudd 83 256 10
24 Kerry Nettle 82 61 32
25 Kim Carr 79 10 67
26 Kelvin Thomson 77 8 75
27 Ian Macdonald 75 43 36
28 Warren Entsch 73 7 79
29 Mal Washer 72 0 160
30 Robert Hill 71 184 14
30 Ron Boswell 71 559 5
32 Bob Brown 70 64 29
33 Andrew Bartlett 68 3 111
34 Alan Cadman 66 6 87
35 De Anne Kelly 65 65 28
36 Erica Betz 61 5 95
37 Kevin Andrews 58 29 41
38 Philip Ruddock 56 399 7
38 Sharman Stone 56 161 15
40 Helen Coonan 55 97 22