By HELEN TUNNAH
Max Purnell's billboards around the Coromandel electorate probably give the game away.
Two ticks, they say he wants. One for Labour for the party vote and one for Mr Purnell to be Labour's electorate MP.
Forget trying to work out whether Labour is or is not backing Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, or is running a two-ticks campaign.
The reality around Coromandel is that Mr Purnell is chasing both votes, and Ms Fitzsimons, the local MP, is worried.
For her to keep the seat from hard-working National candidate Sandra Goudie, she needs Mr Purnell and Labour to pull back.
Coromandel is a diverse electorate, ranging from the farming and horticultural regions of Paeroa and Katikati to the mining hub of Waihi and north to the bush-clad holiday towns of the peninsula.
It is one of New Zealand's poorest electorates. Census figures show almost half the people over 15 living there are on a benefit and half are superannuitants - leading to a dilemma few other seats face.
Coromandel struggles with balancing sustainable development against conservation, with the conflict between the need for work and those who want to preserve their retirement or holiday lifestyles.
Ms Fitzsimons won the long-held National seat in 1999 with a slender 250-vote majority. She had overturned sitting MP Murray McLean's 2450 vote majority from three years earlier with her own profile and the critical backing of Labour.
Then Opposition leader Helen Clark gave Ms Fitzsimons her support in a bid to ensure the Greens got into Parliament, providing Labour with a coalition option.
Now, with relations between Labour and the Greens strained, and with debate over genetic modification pushing the Greens to a polling high, Labour is less inclined to give Ms Fitzsimons a hand.
A poll which showed Mr Purnell had slipped one point ahead of Ms Fitzsimons into second place behind Ms Goudie, prompted a strategy rethink at Labour head office.
Helen Clark's formal position remains that she will not encourage or discourage Labour supporters giving their electorate vote to Ms Fitzsimons. She says the party is "monitoring" developments.
Ms Fitzsimons is clearly concerned.
She is worried about vote-splitting on the left, and says if Mr Purnell stays in the race, Labour will hand the seat back to National.
Mr Purnell says Ms Fitzsimons is the local MP only because of Labour's help, and support for her has crashed following reports the Greens might not support Labour in power.
He said that with the Greens polling well above 5 per cent in the party vote, there was no need for Labour to help Ms Fitzsimons and ensure her party remained in Parliament.
"The mood of the day has hardened. Labour voters here would rather have a representative in government. There's no way we can't run hard for the electorate job."
The list is likely to ensure Mr Purnell, a dairy farmer, gets into Parliament too. He is 44 on the party's list - seventh behind all the existing MPs who are ranked.
Ms Fitzsimons will also get into Parliament on the list.
Ms Goudie, ranked 42, will not.
She reckons it matters little if Mr Purnell pulls out, but adds that it would be difficult for Labour and the Greens to do a deal in the electorate without harming their national chances.
"I don't think Max can pull out. It would show a deal had been done between Labour and the Greens. It would help my cause."
Candidates:
Annette Anderson - Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition
Jeanette Fitzsimons - Greens
Sandra Goudie - National
David Olsen - Act
David Parlour - Christian Heritage
Max Purnell - Labour
Lee Robertson - United Future
1999 Result: Greens (majority: 250)
1996 Result: National (majority: 2450)
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<i>Key electorate:</i> Coromandel
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