It's the leaders' show ... what's on next?

By JOHN ARMSTRONG

Bill English delivered a monologue in a monotone.

Helen Clark roamed the country in a chocolate-brown suit.

Rod Donald forgot to do up his tie.

Given precious minutes of free television time, the leaders of the country's major political parties last night fired their early shots in the election campaign with mixed effect.

National took the biggest risk, placing Bill English in a public hall to speak from a lectern with wife Mary and new candidate Don Brash listening intently behind him.

It was full-on English for 12 minutes, unpunctuated by graphics or cut-aways to keep the viewers' attention.

The attempt to make him Prime Ministerial didn't really work.

The lighting created an eerie, waxy glow on his face.

The camera shots were dizzily jerky and the applause sounded canned. The audience looked bored and viewers at home would have tuned out early.

National's slogan?

"Get the future you deserve."

Helen Clark's 12 minutes were hardly more enthralling. But she was matter-of-fact and down-to-earth.

Her segment was carefully structured to touch on the economy, health, education, law and order and superannuation, accompanied by a list of new, if rather vague, pledges.

These included no increase in income tax, company tax or GST and putting more teachers in schools.

Labour's slogan?

"Working for tomorrow, today".

Winston Peters went for the Oval Office look, sitting at a dark brown desk with hands clasped and his usual cheeky smile absent.

He delivered a stern sermon about the Treaty of Waitangi "gravy train", immigration excess and New Zealand's crime crisis.

His slogan?

"Give us your party vote".

The most inventive of the party political broadcasts was the Greens who started their eight minutes with a futuristic series of advertisements in which a mother and child were enticed to buy genetically modified strawberries implanted with fish genes made by MonstaCo.

After this, co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons emerged from a street crowd like a ghost, and other caucus colleagues made their pitches for no GM, no war and no sugar in soft drinks.

Act rounded out the hour-plus session by showing a casually-dressed Richard Prebble strolling along Muriwai beach with wife Doreen.

But by the time Act hit the screen viewers may have had enough preaching for a Friday night.

It's the tiddler parties' turn tonight.

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