Prime Minister Helen Clark will be hoping a tumble that left her lying almost flat on her face at a Christchurch mall today is not a portent of her party's election night fortunes.
The Riccarton Mall walkabout started well as Miss Clark shook hands with customers at an eatery, but as she tried to move deeper into the shop she tripped on the base of a chair.
She managed to put her hands down as she toppled, but was nevertheless left sprawled across the floor for a few seconds before customers and her security detail helped her to her feet.
Uninjured and mostly unruffled, Miss Clark recovered quickly and spent the next 55 minutes talking to shoppers, many of whom lined up to talk to her or have their photo taken.
It was one of two mall walkabouts by Miss Clark, whose Christchurch blitz also included the announcement of Labour's jobs assistance package, a visit to the Waiora Trust to pitch for the Maori vote and a question and answer session on a local radio station.
Miss Clark's "job search allowance" package received a mostly warm response from blue collar workers at Kaiapoi engineering firm Patience and Nicholson, where it was released.
But it was not all plain sailing with Miss Clark questioned by staff on why Labour was not doing more to limit the working week, cut GST on food and deliver more for middle-income people through tax cuts.
Miss Clark answered the questions deftly and then it was the media's turn.
After the job allowance, questions turned to Labour's attempt to dig up dirt on National leader John Key by linking him to an Equiticorp foreign exchange deal scandal in the 1980s.
Mr Key was not involved in the deal and the attempt to dig dirt could incite a backlash from voters.
But Miss Clark distanced herself from any involvement in the failed dirt digging exercise - clearly not wanting to fall flat on her face twice in one day.
