Thursday, September 15, 2005

Campaign Crescendo

From Dawn till dusk and beyond, this week is manic.

Early morning bus stop visits begin each day, followed by getting out the ever huge mountain of deliviries, doorknocking, the odd community group visit, leafleting of parents outside local schools, and 1001 little tasks to keep the campaign ticking over.

This week also saw Pakuranga's only two real campaign debates.

The first, on Monday night was organised by the combined local Catholic Parishes. This was the bigger of the two, with roughly 100 people in attendance. Each speaker had to address 4 topics, and the floor was then opened for questions. National was represented by Judith Collins, and from her very first response on abortion which she used to make a Party political point over the parental consent issue, it was clear that we were not going to have a happy night.

Over the next couple of hours, her behaviour deteriorated. While I actually quite enjoy a bit of good heckling, Mrs Collins behaved in an increasingly petulant manner, rudely nattering away while others spoke, mouthing 'Shutup' to someone in the audience who dared to disagree with her, questioning the right of the audience to ask the questions they wanted, and finally refusing to answer a direct question on the Iraq war. Being a helpful fellow I politely stepped into that paticuar breach.

I got on fine with other canidates from across the political spectrum, and simply sould not fathom Mrs Collins sourness.

The second debate, organised by Oxfam, Amnesty, and the UN Association was completely different. It was quite a bit smaller and better humoured. Maurice attended this one, and although we got stuck into each other a few times, it was all in good spirit - the way it should be.

We'll be continuing to campaign right until the final whistle. I think this is still an extremely tight election and think that this will be reflected in polls over the next couple of days. Turnout and leadership will be the decisive factors.

10 comments:

Cheezy said...

Let's try and forgive, or at least understand, Judith's boorish behaviour.

I believe her Finishing School was bombed during the war.

Anonymous said...

Must be a little depressing out there campaigning hard - all the while the Clark / Cullen / Mallard team are decieving the public and in the process losing all credibility for labour re Student Loan scandal.

They have proven to be liars.

Why not just give up and go back to the comfort of the union so you can moan and bitch for the next nine years of glorious rule. (well be carefull there - I can't imagine that national will "pay / make donations" to unions. - therefore union jobs may be at risk

Labour have lost the unloseable campaign.

Insolent Prick said...

Nothing Judith Collins could have said compares to the outrageous contempt with which Judith Tizard treats the public, Michael.

Whaleoil said...

Crescendo!!!! more like a fart in a hurricane.

Span said...

now now Whaley, you shouldn't talk about Maurice like that, it's not very nice :-P

Whaleoil said...

I predict that Michael doesn't even win one single booth on Saturday.

Span said...

candidate or party vote or both?

Whaleoil said...

both

Anonymous said...

I predict Brash won't win his electorate of.. wait.. no.. he isn't actually contesting an electorate.

I guess he wouldn't want to go through the embarrasment of losing again. I can't believe he lost a by-election to social credit though.

Interesting that if Nats win he'll be the first PM to never have been voted into an electorate seat though.

Span said...

here are my views of the two debates, for anyone interested:
http://spanblather.blogspot.com/2005/09/tale-of-two-debates-part-i.html

and
http://spanblather.blogspot.com/2005/09/tale-of-two-debates-part-ii.html

of course, like almost any other blogger, i am highly biased. comments from any others present would be welcomed.