Campaign so far: Crikey/Media Monitors index

You see the results in the Crikey/Media Monitors Daily Campaign Index in the first edition each day – the PM comes in top, followed by Kevin Rudd with Cossie in third place. But what other pollies have featured in the election campaign so far?

We’ve asked Media Monitors to break down the campaign coverage. Here’s their Top 10 by media mentions of pols other than the leaders:

Treasurer Peter Costello tops this list, unsurprisingly. Tony Abbott comes in clear in the second spot, reflecting the many health announcements there have been from the Coalition – and his slips. Slips are also reflected in the high profiles of Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Garrett – slips and scrutiny of their portfolio area. Alexander Downer is up there as the Coalition’s attack spaniel, while Joe Hockey and Julia Gillard’s prominence reflects the importance of the IR debate. We can’t work out what Mark Vaile has done to come in at Number 9. And Bob Brown has jumped up and down crying “Me too, me too, me too” often enough to come in at Number 10.

Press coverage once again has favoured Peter Costello, and shown a more detailed focus on economic matters than other media.

It’s been the Abbott and Costello show on radio, with the Health Minister knocking the Treasurer down to the Number 2 spot.

TV coverage relects the importance given to various issues so far: economic policy with Costello way ahead and Swan second; health policy with Abbott third and the previously unknown Roxon eighth; and climate change, with Garrett and Turnbull in fifth and sixth.

Peter Costello leads strongly again in online coverage, but with Malcolm Turnbull a clear second. Alexander Downer is also far more prominent on the web, which tends to have a stronger international focus than the other three media. Kevin Andrews is also gaining more coverage on the net than anywhere else.

The cast changes when we look at talkback. Tony Abbott’s strong overall radio presence is reflected on talkback – he clearly doesn’t have a recognition problem, with the rest of the list fairly even. Labor’s Bennelong candidate Maxine McKew is more spoken about than Mark Vaile, Brendan Nelson, Mal Brough or Kevin Andrews. There’s clearly no recognition problem for her either.

And the Campaign Top 20? Here’s the lot. It’s interesting to see the relatively low profile of ambitious figures such as Mal Brough, Brendan Nelson and Julie Bishop. Perhaps they’ve decided it was wiser to keep their heads down. Mere candidates can only dream of having the profile of Maxine McKew.