From today, the leaders of the two main parties will write about their campaign experiences exclusively for Herald readers.
Their accounts will run every day until election day, November 8.
KEY POINTS:
Welcome to my first blog of the election campaign, courtesy of the Herald.
Over the next four weeks I will give you a glimpse at how National's campaign is going as I travel up and down the country.
Last week, amid some gloomy economic news, I released National's economic package. Yesterday we held our campaign launch in Auckland, in front of around 1000 people and of course the nation's media.
I was heartened by the response from the party faithful. They are putting in a lot of hard work because they believe, like I do, that we have a plan to manage the economy properly.
I really enjoyed the occasion. Speeches like this are a great opportunity to get across our message.
Yesterday we also released the "Key commitments" card, which is signed by me and outlines 11 commitments I personally guarantee about what we will do should we form the next government.
Watch out for this in your letterbox over the next week or so.
I've been on the road for much of the last two weeks, and today I will be in Gisborne as the campaign kicks up another gear. I'm looking forward to it.
