KEY POINTS:
Auckland mayor Dick Hubbard finally lost his cool yesterday, attacking aspirant John Banks.
In an uncharacteristic outburst, Hubbard told a public meeting: "John Banks is a silver-tongued, split-tongue, snake-oil salesman."
The verbal assault followed a New Zealand Herald-Digipoll survey yesterday showing Banks had a strong chance of regaining his former job as mayor - 43.7 per cent of those polled supported him with Hubbard, who ousted him in 2004, behind on 35.2 per cent.
Both appeared at a mayoral candidates' meeting in Panmure in the city's east yesterday afternoon, where Hubbard made a passionate speech to 60 or so people.
He shouted over a heckling crowd that the "transmogrification of Banks is the biggest con-job yet", and referred to the New Zealand Herald-Digipoll as a "good poll" because it would galvanise the people against voting in his rival for a second term.
Banks, who spoke before Hubbard, was more restrained in his rhetoric, in line with his attempts to portray himself as a softer, gentler person.
Even so, he still claimed the current council was lead by a "deceitful mayor", and consistently referred to weak leadership and "flip-flop" policies.
Before the meeting, Hubbard told the Herald on Sunday he realised he was behind in the poll, but the lead was "a gap that is eminently bridge-able".
Banks decribed the result as "encouraging", but said the campaign had a long way to go, and there was still much to be done. Postal voting ends on 13 October.
Ten other hopefuls also attended, including businessman Alex Swney, who is coming third in the rankings with 7.2 per cent, and Steve Crow who was tied at fourth place with John Hinchcliff.
While Banks and Hubbard faced off, the others criticised both men for past decisions and behaviour. Elaine West, a former teacher, called the pair the "Grand-daddy and Daddy" of secret meetings.
The name-calling was not appreciated by some members of the largely elderly audience, one of whom called for the prospective leaders to stop "slagging each other", and start offering positive and constructive ideas.
