After all the publicity, and Mark Latham’s risible interventions into the campaign (and the press obsession with his stunts, leading to various actual policy announcements being “overshadowed”), the former Labor leader’s spot on 60 Minutes was underwhelming.

Guy Beres sums it up:

The latest gem to emerge from Iron Mark, television journaliste extraordinaire, is that voters should leave their ballot papers blank “as a protest” when they vote in this Saturday’s election. This is a shameful contribution to the public debate that lays bare the depths to which 60 Minutes and indeed Channel Nine has sunk during the last year or two. An informal vote is a wasted vote; a vote for ignorance, disengagement and ultimately, recklessness. In order to perform its function as the “least worst” system of government available. a democracy needs to embody the will of the people. In a regulated, ordinated democratic environment like Australia’s, mass delinquency at the ballot box fundamentally undermines this principle.

A lot of people reading here have probably seen the Greens ad from the “Pitch” section of Gruen Nation last night:

And even more people would have seen it last night on the show itself, which we know from ABC Managing Director Mark Scott’s tweet today was watched by 1.57 million viewers, compared to 95 000 viewers for Sky’s Rooty Hill “town hall” event.

The ad has an after life too, all over Twitter, the blogosphere, and the online versions of newspapers. Read more »

As attention turns to the possibility of a very finely balanced election result, and thus to the possibility of neither major party getting over the magic 75 seats in the House of Representatives, the views of Independent MPs come into focus.

Cue, Bob Katter:

This week’s whimsy is brought to you by a young Christopher Walken, in Pennies from Heaven (1981).

NSFW Alert: this video may not be safe to play in some workplaces where Walken ending up tap-dancing in boxer shorts and sock garters might cause some alarm.

Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.

N.B. The weekly whimsy threads are a stoush-free zone.

Continuing an irregular series commenting on how the election looks to commercial tv viewers: commercial free to air is the biggest single source of information for voters.

“The new Julia changes her mind on debates, while the old Tony makes an appearance”, led tonight’s Channel Nine Brisbane bulletin.

Yep, it was that “sexist gaffe”. [Discussion on LP here and over at Hoyden]

Julia getting real apparently is demonstrated by her jumping on the press bus. She then addressed workers on the NSW Central Cost, intoning a few soundbites about jobs and a strong economy.

Tony’s changed his position on the funding of his parental leave. And Jenny Macklin says it’s “a big new tax” which would make all the stuff we buy at Coles and Woolies more expensive. Read more »