The election hardly features in the most read lists of the 10 newspaper websites we are monitoring during the campaign.

That small but loyal band who follow The Australian have put two stories in the paper’s top five and John Howard’s tax cuts which are not tax cuts at all snuck in at number four on The Age website.

Over on the sites of the Murdoch tabloids there was not a trace of politics and granny Herald’s readers were more intrigued by children finding a body in a case than anything remotely connected to John Howard and Kevin Rudd.

From this I think we can safely conclude that there has been no immediate jump in interest from the people simply because they now know when the election will be held. In the kind of climate where a neat little trick about the left side of the brain versus the right side continues to top many charts, the Coalition clearly has the job ahead of it.

The West Australian Sydney Morning Herald
1. Eagles sack Cousins after latest scandal 1. Children find boy’s body in case
2. Cousins in court over drug charges 2. War on Amazon patent began with a GRRRR!!!
3. Eagles sack Cousins after latest scandal 3. Symonds racially abused yet again
4. inFOCUS – The rise and fall of Ben Cousins 4. Lost boy can’t remember his name
5. Health experts fear for backpackers 5. Intruder in daughter’s bedroom
ABC Advertiser
* Players Association distances itself from Cousins 1. Call for nude ban at Maslins
* Chick’s passenger charged with drug possession 2. Diana ‘opened eyes’
* Digger shot & seriously wounded in Iraq 3. Star had ‘cocktail of drugs’
* West Coast sacks Cousins 4. Cousins ‘out of AFL’
* Secretly recorded calls released at Brimble inquest 5. Kids thought body was a pig
Sydney Telegraph Melbourne Herald Sun
1. The Right Brain vs Left Brain 1. Right Brain v Left Brain
2. Chaser defends dead celebs war 2. End of the line for Cousins – AFL
3. Kids thought case body was pig 3. Eagle had drugs in system
4. Drug-addled Cousins gets sack 4. Chaser’s war on dead celebs
5. Jason Taylor robbed of medal 5. Boy’s body found in travel bag
news.com.au The Age
1. Chaser’s war on dead celebs 1. Miraculous survival of Australia’s smallest baby
2. Eagles sack ‘ill’ Ben Cousins 2. War on Amazon patent began with a GRRRR!!!
3. Child’s body found in suitcase 3. Stake-wielding gang in city attack
4. Kochie made Todd’s mum cry 4. Howard’s tax cuts are not cuts at all
5. I’m Princess Margaret’s son… 5. Children find boy’s body in case
The Australian Courier Mail
1. Labor at war over IR laws 1. Left Brain v Right Brain Test
2. Ex-PM’s brother lands plum law job 2. Mum kidnapped ‘to save life’
3. Fahey proves he’s no dope at… 3. Meter maids banned from Indy
4. Costello stumped by mortgage claim 4. Boy’s body dumped in suitcase
5. Bush goes public with Dalai Lama 5. Man jailed over squalor