KEY POINTS:
As clever politics go, Michael Cullen's talk of a levy on mortgage rates has been about as useful to Labour as a chocolate teapot and as comfortable as a barbed-wire singlet.
Mentioned on radio yesterday at breakfast time, the levy was dead long before morning tea time.
Unfortunately for Labour, the idea is guaranteed an afterlife when National resurrects it in Parliament next week to further exacerbate the Finance Minister's embarrassment.
Bank of New Zealand economist Tony Alexander was being generous when he declared there were not many votes in such a levy. He should have cut the "m" off many.
Regardless of a levy's virtue as a tool of monetary policy, you would struggle to come up with something with the capacity to anger and upset more voters than this clunker.
The Finance Minister certainly succeeded in gaining a political consensus. The consensus of friend and foe alike was, "forget it".
Dr Cullen too was backing off by 10 o'clock yesterday morning.
"Something worth further investigation at this point" had become something which was "at a very preliminary stage".
The idea of applying a levy on mortgage rates is so politically unattractive it was never going to get legs. So why did Dr Cullen suggest it might, as it would cut across Labour's efforts to make it easier for families to get into the housing market.
With Taito Phillip Field's reluctance to offer more help to the police, Mike Williams' gaffe in saying Labour might not pay back the pledge-card heist, and now Dr Cullen thinking aloud about introducing a de facto tax, Labour has made a rather untidy start to the year.
The best that can be said is Dr Cullen at least knocked John Key off the top of the news bulletins.
