But even so, the poll does not suggest that a Costello leadership would be enough to put the Coalition ahead. “Superficially it looks good for Peter Costello,” Stirton observes, “but when you look at where his support comes from, it’s mainly Liberal voters.”

But to win an election, the Coalition needs to win over people currently supporting Labor. Asked whether a Costello leadership would make them more or less likely to vote for the Coalition, 15 per cent said more likely but 24 per cent said less. “Costello is a net negative among Labor voters,” Stirton points out.

More on the poll from The Poll Bludger and Possum Comitatus.

Meanwhile, the Great Man Pretender breaks his silence! … to diss John Howard. Who are his boosters kidding? This guy isn’t the future, he’s still obsessing over the past.

Hint to Liberals: Your problems are much deeper than leadership. You need to do a lot more in opposition than “defend the Howard record”, particularly when doing so ties you in knots so tangled that… well, consider Joe Hockey last night. You need to realise that if Costello becomes leader, he will have to display more “economic credibility” than “hey! wasn’t it the good old days when I was Treasurer?” – the configuration of economic issues is different and the world has moved on. And in the process your messiah has been reinforcing his reputation for indecision and indulging his enormous ego and sense of entitlement. And, guess what, if you change leadership, it won’t be the end of your leadership troubles.

Oh, and John Howard is unlikely to go away either. He’s been out and about getting decorated by the Governor-General, announcing that he’s writing his own memoirs (to put $weetie back in his box?) and insisting that failing to step down as leader was a sign of courage. Be very interesting to see how he’d respond if Costello did become leader, and might there not be a bit of a hole in the apparent Costello strategy of saying – hey, look, we’ve gone back to the best of the wonderful Howard years?

What’s Brendan up to in the meantime? Well, he intends to keep on truckin’… And listen to a bit of Slim Dusty. Unbelievable.

Liberal frontbencher and staunch Costello supporter Christopher Pyne used his Facebook site to kill the speculation, writing: “Christopher Pyne thinks Peter Costello’s position is clear and unchanged since November and wishes everyone would move on and get stuck into the ALP. Who arehopeless!”

Well, thanks for that, Dennis. Paul Keating probably killed off the Great Pretender for the time being more effectively, but I suppose it is hard to keep writing the same columns and stories about a quintessential non-event day after day. We’ll miss the comedy value. I imagine we’re about to see the switch flicked back to that other “media narrative” – “the Rudd honeymoon is over” now.