KEY POINTS:
When Russel Norman stands for re-election to his job as Green Party co-leader today, he won't be quite as nervous as he was when he first stood last year.
Dr Norman took over as Jeanette Fitzsimons' right-hand man a year ago after a hotly contested election between four
strong contenders to replace Rod Donald, who died suddenly in November 2005 of viral myocarditis - an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by an infection.
The expectations were large - Mr Donald left a large political footprint and despite running the Greens' campaign in 2005, Dr Norman was a relative Mr Invisible.
Today, both he and Ms Fitzsimons will stand for re-election uncontested at the Greens' annual conference in Nelson, and while he still does not have a major public profile, he thinks he's done "okay" at pushing the Greens' image in the streets.
There was contention at the time about the wisdom of having a co-leader who was not also a member of Parliament. He's the first to admit it's not ideal and hopes to rectify it next year by standing for the Greens in the election.
Between now and then, however, there is work to be done.
The party leadership is in the midst of sorting out where it stands now, and once the chin-wagging is done, voters can expect the Greens to come out with an unequivocal statement of who they will side with to form a government.
Dr Norman thinks New Zealand First's approach of talking to the major party with the most votes is "silly".
"It's not driven by principle, it's pure pragmatism. They want a justification for not telling people what way they were going. It's a mistake, because why would you vote for United Future or New Zealand First? You may as well vote for the main thing."
The Greens' positioning isn't such a clear-cut thing any more.
Dr Norman points out that Parliament has "greened" up a lot since the last election and parties are willing to talk "sensibly" about policies they agree on, rather than taking the "oh, they're the enemy, let's not talk to them approach".
National has a new leader in John Key, who has made some overtures towards Green-friendly policies in saying carbon emissions should be cut so they are at least halfway back to 1990 levels by 2050.
It's not ideal - the Greens adhere to the Kyoto Protocol's return to 1990 levels by 2010 - but Mr Key has also publicly pondered giving the Greens a Cabinet seat.
"Well, never say never," Dr Norman says, but makes the likelihood of this ever happening clear.
"If the National Party adopted Green Party policies, then of course we would work with them. We base our decisions on policies and principles, and at this stage we don't know what National's policies are. They're all over the place. They seem to be throwing out all their old policies, which is great because they were bloody terrible. But we don't know what's going to come in their place."
Dr Norman has hopes of the Greens hitting 10 per cent at the next election. He notes the party's support in the polls has grown from about 5 per cent at the last election to 7 or 8 per cent now, while other small parties are suffering a mid-term slump.
If it continues, the Greens look likely to overtake New Zealand First as the third biggest party in Parliament.
