You would have to be living on the moon not to know that the 2007 Federal Election Campaign has kicked off. Ads in papers, on TV, not even one week yet, and there has been so many of them that the really tacky ads that normally drive you insane are starting to look good compared to Liberal Labor fisticuffs. A few weeks ago I did an editorial on how it is not all about Rudd & Howard, gee, that really opened a can of worms with emails coming in asking just 'who' is putting their hand up in our backyard, and ummm I didn't know...

So I got on my bike, well keyboard, hit Google with all sorts of search terms to try to gather as many of the candidates as possible that are relevant to us on the Fraser & Sunshine Coast. That in itself was an interesting exercise. I then contacted as many as possible that were displayed on the web and had email addresses asking them to send in a 1 page precis on themselves with a photo, so that we could check them all out, without the normal advertising rubbish. I thought I had an above average knowledge of politics, well, did I get an education, obviously I know diddly squat, some are a strange breed...

Some who have high profiles were very nice, polite & prompt in sending their info through (which surprised me), one from a minor party told me putting their information on a site that is regional only (even though we get 75,000 - 85,000 visitors per month) was not worth their time? Scary thought that one, obviously doesn't want to represent their own back yard. Told by another that they only wanted high profile advertising in the likes of PBL, Fairfax etc media as they felt that to be in a regional site would lower their profile? Seriously. One major party wanted to pay for advertising on the site, and were not impressed when that was knocked back, they didn't like the idea of being part of the 'crowd' on the page and only having the same amount of space allocated to them as, quote unquote, "the political wannabees", I think that was political speak for Independents & smaller parties LOL!

Way more 'odd' stuff happened than just the above, this week has brought me to tears with laughter, and, frustration. Obviously all names are not released until the 2nd of November, so the list is not full onsite yet, and some independents I have not been able to track down, (If you do know of an Independent I don't have, please give them my email address to send their info through), and some are still putting info together for me, so both pages, 'Lower House', and 'Senate' will grow over the next few weeks. Tip for you, some of the Senate candidates make for 'interesting' reading to say the least...

We have a few more weeks of this to go yet, so best of luck in coping with it all, and here's hoping you survive the hype :)

Best Wishes, Noely, Community Site Co-ordinator