Campaign diary: Woolly suit scores low in rankings

The fashion police

It may be a bit shallow, but some viewers who tuned into Monday night's Holmes debate think TVNZ should drop its analysis of the leaders' political performance in favour of a worm ranking their fashion sense. The outfits that drew the most unfavourable rating included Richard Prebble's woolly blue suit accompanied by orange-and-brown-striped tie, Helen Clark's bland brown jacket and Laila Harre's cream top with white ruffles on the shoulders.

Spinning a wormy story

Act leader Richard Prebble has a novel explanation for why the worm appeared to have developed a dislike for him during the Holmes debate. Apparently, the undecided voters in charge of the worm dials are largely former Alliance supporters who cannot decide whether to support that party or Jim Anderton's new Progressive Coalition. Unfortunately for Mr Prebble's argument, the worm did not seem to have particularly high affection for Mr Anderton or Ms Harre either.

Fun off-camera

It seems some of the scrapping during the Holmes debate spilled over into the ad breaks, so viewers at home missed out on some of the juiciest heckling. One audience member said Winston Peters was a favourite target. One National supporter called out, "So you're Chinese now are you", referring to his claim that Maori came from China. His quick reply: "Well, you're a genetically modified immigrant". Helen Clark got a hard time over Paintergate and the corn scare. One heckler asked why she had not burned the corn instead of the painting. It all ended nicely when the leaders joined host Paul Holmes for a group photo. One audience wit suggested there should be a group hug, but the leaders looked less than thrilled.

Whistling in the dark

Despite a string of bad and worsening polls, National is consoling itself with its own surveys which it claims show it is doing well in Auckland. Yesterday the party handed the Herald data showing that in a poll of 225 taken on Thursday and Sunday Labour was on 37 per cent, National on 28.9 per cent and Act on 12.3 per cent. Adding another 10 per cent from NZ First, National's spin doctors claim Auckland favours centre-right parties - by 51.2 per cent to 47.4 per cent for the centre-left.

Where the leaders are:

Helen Clark campaigns in Timaru and Oamaru.

Bill English joins a law-and-order march and addresses business leaders in Wellington.

Winston Peters speaks at the Business NZ annual conference in Wellington.

Rod Donald heads to Rotorua and the Wairarapa; Jeanette Fitzsimons is in Wellington.

Richard Prebble joins the Sensible Sentencing Rally in Wellington.

Jim Anderton opens a factory in Auckland, addresses Business NZ in Wellington and attends a public meeting in Christchurch.

Laila Harre attends a Business NZ conference in Wellington before meeting teachers in Auckland.

Peter Dunne campaigns in Wellington and attends the Sensible Sentencing rally.

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