status text

[vbPoet]

I want to get status text of any link when this link is clicked.

<script language="JavaScript">
function ClickLog()
            { 
	var ecb=escape(window.status);
	alert (ecb);	  	
	}  
 
  
</script> 

<table width="100%" border="1" >
  <tr>
    <td onClick="ClickLog()"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com">Exclusive</a></td>
  </tr>
</table>

But alert message is showing Blank.

and when i change code like that

<script language="JavaScript">
function ClickLog()
            { 
             window.status="hello world"; 
	var ecb=escape(window.status);
	alert (ecb);	  	
	}  
 
  
</script> 

<table width="100%" border="1" >
  <tr>
    <td onClick="ClickLog()"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com">Exclusive</a></td>
  </tr>
</table>

now i get alert message of "hello world"

So i want to figure what is problem with first code.
Actually i want to get alert message showing "http://www.usatoday.com".
where am i doing mistake.
Thank You.