KEY POINTS:
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.
John Key's log: 14-10-2008
Yesterday I flew to Gisborne to announce National's crusade on literacy and numeracy.
I got a great welcome when I visited Kaiti Primary and Gisborne Boys High Schools to speak to pupils and staff.
Education is something I'm really passionate about. The fact is that we need to provide children with decent literacy and numeracy skills.
Under our National Standards policy, we will set standards in literacy and numeracy and require every primary and intermediate school pupil to be assessed regularly against them.
Schools will have to explain to parents in plain English how their child is doing compared to these National Standards and compared to other children their age.
I care about the future of our children, and their future can only be guaranteed if they have a decent education.
It will be one of the ways that New Zealanders can measure me by - through my desire to see our education system produce better educated young people.
Our crusade on literacy and numeracy will cost $47 million a year, including $18 million targeted at pupils who aren't meeting National Standards, $4 million to tackle the problem of truancy and extra money for children with special education needs.
At the moment there are too many young people - one in five, in fact - who are leaving school without the qualifications and skills they need to succeed.
Those kids are New Zealand's future.
If we don't get this basic building block right, we won't get far.
John Key
Helen Clark's log: 14-10-2008
The campaign headed to Dunedin on Monday so I could make an important announcement to students at Otago University.
To a crowd of over 1200 in balmy spring weather, I announced that Labour is phasing out parental income testing on studentallowances.
Labour will phase in this policy over the next three years to ensure it is affordable for the country.
This is the next step in a series of policies from Labour to make tertiary education more affordable. Previously, we have capped fees and more recently, have taken the interest off student loans.
My dream has always been to see our young people have the kind of support my generation had when we were students.
I enjoy addressing student audiences because they are enthusiastic, loud and informed. Yesterday's event was even more boisterous than usual.
There was a great atmosphere as students crammed into every nook and cranny inside and out trying to get good vantage points.
As with any student gathering worth its salt, there were hi-jinks when two first-year students, Charlotte Hood and Stephane Cornville, beat security to jump on to the stage.
They posed for a photograph with a sign they were holding, which said: "Thanks 4 my shoes Aunty Helen."
It was a fun day and a good way to kick off the week.
What to watch out for today: the first look at Labour's election billboard and the first TVNZ leaders' debate.
Helen Clark
