Campaign diary: Anderton tagged in Waikato

Political vandals

It seems a Progressive Coalition billboard in the small Waikato town of Ngaruawahia has drawn the wrong kind of attention from local voters. The billboard, featuring party leader Jim Anderton, is located in a prime spot at a junction of State Highway 1 where motorists are forced to slow down. A politically motivated graffiti artist has sprayed "waka jumper" across it, referring to his defection from the Alliance.

Paging Gerry Brownlee

Passengers on an Air New Zealand flight to Nelson yesterday morning must have been less than thrilled when their trip was delayed because of a late passenger. They may have been unhappier to discover the person responsible was National MP Gerry Brownlee. Even the employee paging Mr Brownlee over the airport intercom sounded miffed as he told the guilty MP he was delaying the flight "even further" and asked him to board immediately.

Hungry for a story

Journalists have a voracious appetite for the kind of juicy stories that develop on the campaign trail. But it is the other kind of appetite they find most difficult to satisfy. It is almost impossible to find time to stop for a bite as they rush to and from photo opportunities, following politicians. Yesterday, reporters travelling with Prime Minister Helen Clark watched enviously as she enjoyed an early morning snack of coffee and biscuits at a top tourist venue in Taupo. It might pay for politicians to remember that the best way to keep a pack of squawking chickens quiet is to make sure they are well fed.

Dumb and dumber

Bill English's attempt at humour fell a little flat in the Wairarapa yesterday. It was vital to end disruption in the education sector because 15-year-olds got only one shot at fifth form, he told about 75 farmers. "Of course, there will be people here who spent a couple of years in the fifth form," he quipped.

PM in infamous company

The police report on Paintergate reveals that the auctioneer for the charity fundraiser at which Helen Clark's fake painting was sold in 1999 had threatened to pull out if works by the acknowledged forger Carl Sim, otherwise known as Goldie, were included. The works by Sim were withdrawn.

They said it:

"It's like a thoroughbred being ridden by an overweight jockey." - Don Brash attacks Michael Cullen's economic policies.

"It is so psychedelic that I cannot even begin to guess what it might be that he is getting at." - The Finance Minister "responds" to Brash's claim that Cullen will tell cafeteria workers and builders they should be paid the same.

Where the leaders are:

* Helen Clark is campaigning in New Plymouth and Whangarei.

* Bill English is at the Sensible Sentencing rally in Auckland.

* Winston Peters will hold a public meeting in Whangarei.

* Jeanette Fitzsimons to campaign in Nelson.

* Richard Prebble to attend Sensible Sentencing rally in Auckland.

* Laila Harre is in West Auckland.

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