KEY POINTS:
Time for a rethink, perhaps? It would be surprising if the Maori Party wasn't having second thoughts about striking a deal with National after the election.
That has little to do with the spat between Pita Sharples and John Key over whether Key privately gave an assurance that National would not abolish the Maori seats without Maori consent.
That argument is small beer, and will be forgotten by next week.
It is patently obvious that National will shelve its pledge to scrap the Maori seats by 2014 if that is blocking it from getting its hands on the levers of power.
It is just that Key cannot say so before the election, although he gave a big hint yesterday by saying abolition was not a bottom-line for National.
The Maori Party has far more serious reason to pause for thought.
In its public statements in recent weeks, the party has flagged that going with National is definitely an option should it be the post-election kingmaker.
But the election campaign has been turned upside down by the international credit crisis and its inevitable effect on the economy.
Maori dominate at the bottom of the socio-economic heap, and are therefore likely to suffer the most in an economy thrust into deep recession or even depression.
This was no doubt stressed to Maori Party MP Hone Harawira when he attended the National Distribution Union's annual conference yesterday.
But the Maori Party MPs need no reminder that their economic policy calls for the Government to borrow to prevent beneficiaries and low-paid workers falling into poverty as a result of any economic downturn. The party also wants tax relief for those on the lowest incomes.
That hardly squares with National's tax policy, which has little or nothing for the low-paid, especially families.
Labour, on the other hand, has been clear in its response to the financial crisis that the burden should not fall on the low paid and that preserving jobs is its priority.
As a Maori Television poll showed this week, Maori voters already have little confidence that National will look after them.
And, not surprisingly, recent Marae-DigiPoll surveys show those on the Maori roll overwhelmingly prefer Labour as the Maori Party's coalition partner.
Bucking the wishes of the constituency might be possible during good economic times. Doing so when the economy is heading into a recession is a far riskier business.
