Jet-or-prop propelled, our mild leaders continue to circuit across country and campaign. Real world voters might be indifferent to their unexceptional wake. Half world voters of the www, however, have managed to summon real curiosity.

CRIKEY SAYS: Follow the candidates online with Crikey’s Election Tracker.

Unlike sagging politicians, the internet rarely sleeps. And even when John, flushed from his walk, has hung up his truss and untied his Nikes, netizens are busying themselves with the work of Election 07. But not uniquely and always in the way you might suspect.

Sure, pollies and major media players continue to upload with shifting degrees of triumph. In fact, as I am informed by a young Hip lady in an asymmetrical blouse, Fairfax will stop at nothing to bring the debate to YouTube. Thank you, Fairfax. For your rampant commitment to Troof and Yoof.

The stuff that has captured the bulk of my unsteady attention in the last day, however, could be described as inhering in a “meme”. If you’re (a) a fan of theorist Richard Dawkins or (b) a former stakeholder in a dot com detonated by the NASDAQ crash of 2000, you’ll know how to wield this term. Otherwise, quite properly, you may not have been ars-d to employ it in the everyday.

As a former stakeholder of a dot com detonated by the NASDAQ crash of 2000, I am happy to help you learn. A meme is the social equivalent of a gene. It’s a building block of culture and could be, for example, a turn of phrase such as Fo’ Shizzle, Mah Kezzle. This, I believe, is a salutation the young persons are currently using in address to Idol hopeful Mr Rudd. Or, it could be a trend or some other kind of shared knowledge.

We parasites attach ourselves to the meme and nowhere is this practice more apparent than the internet. 2001 gave us the ” All Your Base Are Belong To Us” meme. There is little point in explaining its towering nonsense. Sensible people will not laugh. I did.

More recently, the LOL cats captured the hearts and graphics capabilities of feline fanciers world wide. Here, we see the meme as a sort of open source silliness. And now, strangely enough, Election 07 has become a meme. Which is odd, n’est-ce pas? As you will aver, both government and opposition are much less appealing than pictures of refractory cats.

Users seem to be having immense fun with Election 07. This first rate virulent meme is offered by a Sydney fitness centre. As aforelinked, Bob Dylan is refigured as an Election player and, of course, as a means to convey the editing skills of some dude called “unalive”.

As the election spirals into a viral gag online, it’s nice to think at least some folks are having fun.

Seriously. My broadband bill is out of control and my wife is threatening to leave me if I continue to spend all day and all night online. So, I’d be very grateful for any Election 2.0 links you could spare. Helen.razer@bigpond.com