Wayne Swan up to number two in these inflationary times, while the vast Brendan Nelson media machine has finally cranked into gear as he leaps into the Top Five. Premier Bligh is up the list due to the widespread flooding, while Premier Iemma continues to cop an almighty pizzling from both Fairfax and News.

John Howard is the immovable object in retirement, while the past future of young Conservative Australia is back again in Queensland after deposing the newer older Nationals leader (my head hurts). Alexander Downer?? Who knew?

TW

Move

Type

Politician

Press

Radio

TV

Internet

Total

1

0

PM

Kevin Rudd

1,203

5,814

3,978

3,931

14,926

2

1

Cabinet

Wayne Swan

334

1,382

617

1,946

4,279

3

4

Premier

Morris Iemma

188

2,272

292

1,261

4,013

4

8

Premier

Anna Bligh

236

1,363

884

942

3,425

5

9

Opp Leader

Brendan Nelson

255

1,195

788

960

3,198

6

0

ex PM

John Howard

405

599

200

1,321

2,525

7

-5

Cabinet

Stephen Smith

143

540

53

1,704

2,440

8

1

Cabinet

Julia Gillard

152

597

18

1,161

1,928

9

6

Shadow

Malcolm Turnbull

158

627

336

761

1,882

10

-6

Cabinet

Jenny Macklin

40

823

342

588

1,793

11

-6

Cabinet

Peter Garrett

108

457

137

1,007

1,709

12

1

Premier

John Brumby

123

489

154

389

1,155

13

9

Cabinet

Lindsay Tanner

86

233

222

370

911

14

-6

Cabinet

Nicola Roxon

130

127

19

572

848

15

-5

Backbench

Peter Costello

72

177

59

433

741

16

0

Cabinet

Joel Fitzgibbon

62

149

15

484

710

17

8

Backbench

Alexander Downer

46

334

62

253

695

18

2

Premier

Mike Rann

91

297

31

227

646

19

*

Opp Leader

Lawrence Springborg

78

284

83

178

623

20

1

Cabinet

Tony Burke

34

245

3

222

504

Nelson in! and he’s not sorry!! Still pipped by the old boss though.

Rank

Politician

Talkback

1

Kevin Rudd

628

2

Morris Iemma

465

3

John Howard

96

4

Brendan Nelson

83

5

Jenny Macklin

69

And our celebrity control sample of the week: Heath Ledger.

1,157

10,695

9,000

3,228

24,080

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.