Bligh beating Bieber in influence poll

Does Queensland Premier Anna Bligh really make a bigger mark around the world than Justin Bieber?

Anna Bligh is currently ranked higher than Justin Bieber on Time Magazine's latest online poll on the world's most influential people.
But another Queenslander leads them both.
As the only Australian political leader on the publicly voted list, the Queensland Premier has notched up a higher score than UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US Afghanistan mission commander David Petraeus.

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Pop sensation Justin Bieber ranked 67th in early voting in Time Magazine's the world's most influential people poll.

Also in her wake last night were Ricky Gervais, Sarah Palin and Charlie Sheen, but fellow Queenslander Julian Assange was well ahead of Ms Bligh, with the Townsville-raised WikiLeaks founder surging to fourth position.
Time only opened voting on Monday so the positions are likely to change by the time the poll closes on Thursday next week.
But of the 203 people on the voting shortlist, Ms Bligh was last night ranked in 49th place, with 590 'influential' and 174 'not influential' votes.
That put her ahead of teen pop sensation Bieber (who was ranked 71st in early voting), comedian Gervais (86th), possible US presidential hopeful Palin (193rd) and bad boy actor Sheen (198th).
Ms Bligh was last night trailing the unquestionably influential TV star Oprah Winfrey (42nd), US President Barack Obama (27th) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (25th).
South Korean pop star Rain was at the top of the list thanks to support from his online army of fans.
The entry on Ms Bligh says she was the first female premier to be elected premier of an Australian state and notes she led the state through a summer of major flood and cyclone disasters.
“But there were few casualties during the crises and her handling of public duties, keeping people informed and calm while rallying the rest of Australia to help out, was widely admired,” says the summary, written by Time staff.
Readers have been asked to cast their votes on the “leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes” who are the most influential people in the world.
The winner will be included in the TIME 100 list.
Australian pop culture news site Pedestrian.TV yesterday encouraged its readers to vote for Ms Bligh, while a number of Twitter users have done the same.
A spokesman for Ms Bligh declined to comment.
It's not the first time an Australian political leader has attracted attention on an unscientific global poll.
Ms Bligh's political nemesis, former Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, was last year voted the fifth best local government leader in the World Mayor online poll.
The Queensland opposition last month accused Ms Bligh of being publicity-hungry, targeting her for participating in a photo shoot with The Australian Women's Weekly days after Cyclone Yasi crossed the north Queensland coast.
But Ms Bligh insisted she simply wanted to keep the focus on Queensland in the wake of the disasters.