Jeremy Wapp: Debate sorts out potential leaders

"My first leaders debate proved to be an eye-opener. I was thinking National, but the debate has changed that. More and more, I'm thinking about casting my vote for the Progressives and Jim Anderton.

"Anderton took my attention a bit more than the others - and I always used to think of him as a nob.

"I was very, very surprised.

"He made a good point: that rather than complain, we are quite lucky as a country, a lot luckier than many, actually.

"He has also got the right idea, in that we do need to develop business. If you haven't got a strong economy, you can't pay for good health service and for a good education system.

"Why haven't we got $100 billion to spend on education or health? It's because we haven't got a $100 billion economy.

"All everyone else said was that we needed more money in education or that they were promising tax cuts. They didn't actually address the cause of the problem.

"I like Anderton's views, and it'd be quite good to have him somewhere in Parliament.

"Don Brash, on the other hand, lost it a little bit for me. He's not a good debater. He looked like a primary school kid at a college function. He opened his mouth when he probably should have kept it closed. He didn't spell a whole lot of confidence, and this is the guy who could be meeting all the other world leaders on behalf of the nation. I just can't see him as prime minister.

"Helen Clark did well, getting her point across without overemphasising it.

"Rodney Hide, meanwhile, reminded me of a little boy at school: 'Don't do that or I'm telling on you.'

"And the Greens just seemed like the party from the 1700s. You just can't base all your policies on the environment.

"As for Winston Peters, it should have been him that wasn't invited. I don't think any court would have reversed that. He seemed to be so far out there, it just didn't sit well with me. He and Tariana Turia could make a good coalition. Both parties going nowhere quick."

* Jeremy Wapp, a 22-year-old car parts salesman from Manurewa, is a first-time voter. Undecided and fairly apolitical, he is the face of the voting public politicians need to woo. He watched his first leaders debate and walked away with a possible change of heart.