Political journos fill debate

The Neighbourhood Bar in Kingsland was home to hordes of political junkies and journos on Wednesday night who flocked out for the final Mt Albert byelection debate live on TVNZ 7 and hosted by Back Benches' Wallace Chapman.

My spies tell me the place was packed with queues thick at the bar. Insiders say the Tory strategists were noticeably ordering more booze than most, but that's forgivable given the past six weeks they've had with 'hero to zero' candidate Melissa Lee who has made a series of silly gaffes.

National's young guns Nikki Kaye and Simon Bridges swept in to the pub and seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

Former Labour bad boy Trevor Mallard was trying his hardest, I hear, to schmooze female journos by buying them bubbles. Cheap local plonk, presumably; not the ritzy French stuff.

At one stage when one of the candidates was asked to identify the mascot of the Mt Albert Rugby League team, some smart alec in the crowd piped up "Helen Clark!" only to be corrected by a serious Mallard who yelled out, "No, she was the patron". Trev, give it a rest. Don't you know Hels has left the stage and no more needs defending.

The media throng present included Sunday's all-round nice guy Cameron Bennett who watched the debate from the bar with a sophisticated glass of red in hand, seemingly oblivious to the rowdy crowd.

Other TVNZ reporters there were Guyon Espiner and Garth Bray who were off duty with a beer in their hand, yet clearly in their element.

While their dashing boss, Anthony Flannery, who is Head of News and Current Affairs at TVNZ, was Spy-ed deep in conversation with TV3's beautiful blonde reporter Kate Lynch.

With Nightline anchor Samantha Hayes making a hash of a potential network transfer last week perhaps Flannery is being propositioned by other talent at TV3 who are keen to make the switch.

As well as her good looks and journalistic acumen, Lynch's Aussie accent would appeal to Australian Flannery, who will no doubt be supporting the Newcastle Knights over our Warriors tonight.

Can we expect to see the lovely Ms Lynch at rival One News? And how many other young lovelies from Mark Jenning's TV3 news ship are looking at jumping in the murky waters and making a swim for it? Watch this space.

 

Rachel Glucina

Pictured above: Melissa Lee during the candidates' debateat the University of Auckland. Photo / Richard Robinson