Crikey

Gary Morgan grudgingly concedes Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate Robert Doyle leading in Morgan poll (emphasis is Crikey’s):

Robert Doyle favourite to be Melbourne’s next Lord Mayor but “undecideds” and preferences the key

A special poll conducted on the Melbourne City Council elections shows that failed former Liberal Party leader Robert Doyle, who led the Liberal Party to a crushing defeat in the 2002 Victorian State election  — the heaviest defeat the Liberal Party had ever suffered in Victoria, winning only 17 out of 88 Lower House seats, is nonetheless favoured to win the upcoming Melbourne City Council Election for a new Lord Mayor.

Robert Doyle was preferred by 26.5% of electors, clearly ahead of Greens candidate Adam Bandt (16.5%), current Councillor Catherine Ng (10%), current Deputy Lord Mayor Gary Singer (5%) and Roy Morgan Executive Chairman, Gary Morgan, 3.5%.

Wonkette go guerilla! Crikey suspect Wonkette may have hacked John McCain’s website. A link from this Wonkette story leads you to McCain’s website with this:

The alert “Help send Palin back to goddamned Wasilla, forever!” leads you back to Wonkette. Now that is cool.

News alert from the West: “BREAKING NEWS RBA cuts rates by 100 basis point”.  Look at the Subject heading and then look at the little headline in the actual story. Top subbing from the West gulag. I wonder how West editor Paul Armstrong will blame Labor for the error.

 — Crikey reader Brian Mitchell

Google offers proof that Tina Fey outshines Joe Biden. Since September 1, Google has been tracking the top campaign-related queries and posted some telling results. While the top three political personas aren’t out of the ordinary  — Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and John McCain, in that order  — Tina Fey came in fourth, one spot ahead of Obama running mate Joe Biden. — Fishbowl NY

Reporter sues Chinese government over media controls. A Chinese reporter has taken the remarkable step of suing the government for closing her newspaper for three months, arguing that the state does not have the right to suspend publications. The authorities closed the China Business Post after Cui Fan wrote an article alleging forgery by one of the country’s largest banks. But Cui, 31, has fought back by demanding the reopening of her newspaper, an apology, compensation and legal fees, in a case which demonstrates the growing confidence of journalists. — Guardian

Fox News aired graphics featuring inaccurate poll-closing times. Fox News repeatedly aired graphics that purported to show “POLL CLOSINGS” in Eastern Standard Time for each state. But in states that cross time zones, the times listed in the graphics reflected the western-most time zone in the state, which could result in people watching Fox News in the eastern portion of some states being left with the impression that local polls would be open for an hour after they actually close. — Media Matters