Brash promises to raise profile

Don Brash

Don Brash concedes his profile is so low that "some people ask me whether I've knocked off".

But he believes it's a regular bugbear for Opposition leaders and will change as the election draws closer.

Despite a hugely promising start, the gap in the preferred Prime Minister stakes between the National leader and Helen Clark has continued to grow this year.

Thursday's TV3 poll had the Prime Minister on 36 points and Dr Brash on 15 - the lowest rating he has received since his first Orewa speech.

His performance ratings are also dropping.

Herald DigiPoll surveys among decided voters reveal a similar slide in the preferred Prime Minister stakes, with Helen Clark gaining 61.6 per cent support and Dr Brash 21.6 in a poll this month. Given it is now widely accepted that New Zealand election campaigns are presidential in style, the trend is worrying at least some National insiders.

If Dr Brash's authority - perceived to be integral to the Brash brand - continues to diminish in voters' minds, the party will be electoral toast.

With characteristic frankness, Dr Brash, who gathers his northern regional team around him for its conference in Waipuna this weekend, concedes "there is a perception out there that I'm not visible enough".

"Some people ask me whether I have knocked off. I can assure them I haven't knocked off.

"But I have been doing less things in the media than perhaps is desirable," he adds, admitting what some MPs have privately conceded for some months.

Partly responsible is the intensive regional touring the party leader has been doing over recent months, taking him away from Parliament and away from the media throngs.

Dr Brash simply can't be everywhere all the time and National believes the provincial meet-and-greets had to be got out of the way well before the election.

Helen Clark did it as Opposition leader before the 1999 election, attracting similar visibility questions, he says.

That said, more media opportunities - in the vein of Dr Brash standing on East Coast beaches protesting about foreshore claims - are planned, strategists say.

And Dr Brash has been trying to increase his presence in the House - although was "frustrated as hell" that a series of planned speeches and engagements meant he was absent during much of the John Tamihere attacks on Labour.

He concedes he is "not a rottweiler" in the House, but doesn't believe that would have impeded him from successfully attacking the Government.

Even his own colleagues are likely be less charitable about his parliamentary debating abilities.

But, as one points out, National chose Dr Brash as leader because his point of difference was that he was a "non-politician" and the public responded well to that - it signalled a genuineness not typically attributed to the profession.

National remains optimistic that Dr Brash's ability to touch a public nerve will play a greater role as the election campaign unfolds and as the policy debate sharpens and gains more exposure.

He believes the Tamihere affair will damage Helen Clark, reinforcing perceptions that political expediency dominates her leadership style.