CNN has the headline: "Freedom Party Urges Haider to Stay," and you might think that this was a real story, until you find the following line midway through the analysis of yesterday's elections: "It was unclear if the offer to quit was sincere, as Haider has repeatedly played hard-to-get in an attempt to force his will on the party."

Austria's Kurier has an amusing article about Joerg Haider's persistent threats to resign from his party. In March of 2001, Haider made the first of his threats to leave national politics if his party continued to disagree with him on policy issues. In February of this year, after a torrent of criticisms over his trip to meet Saddam Hussein, Haider declared, "I'm already gone." On August 30th, in the context of a dispute over tax reform, he declared that he was leaving politics "for good," unless his party lost in the elections. And now?