Manic MC works on the exultation at National campaign launch

Don Brash and his wife, Je Lan, at yesterday's National Party campaign launch in Auckland. Picture / Dean Purcell

Funny man Jim Hopkins warned that anyone caught yawning by the TV cameras would be marched out the door and fed to United Future.

Just 90 seconds of footage would be screened to show the country the mood at the National Party campaign launch in Auckland yesterday, so they had to get into it, he told the audience.

And told them, and told them again. He's a pretty manic guy, which might explain the repetition.

Or the blue and white spotlights pulsing around the room may have transported him back to a Blue Light Disco he Mc'ed years ago, where the teenagers were excessively shy.

Or National's marketing men - campaign manager Steven Joyce and MP Murray McCully - had had a wee word about the audience Looking Like Winners.

Most of the 1000 or so members waved their hands in the air happily enough when called upon to the sounds of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

They looked like anemones, Hopkins said.

His presence was allegedly testament to Don Brash's frugality - "I'm the poor man's Judy Bailey" - and it might have startled some members a little, but it did warm them up.

He had believed Dipton, for example, referring to Bill English's home town, was something confined to a sentence such as "I'd like to be dipped in chocolate and given to Catherine Zeta-Jones".

He and Dr Brash had known each other at school ... Christchurch Girls School, at the gates at about 3.30pm each day - "if you feel like flinging your underwear on stage please do so" - and Dr Brash had revealed "a kind of stealth sex appeal".

And then Hopkins introduced the gold-jacketed "Captain Kirk" - president Judy Kirk - and a hoarse Gerry Brownlee, the deputy leader.

"Four weeks today we'll be recovered from a great victory party," Mrs Kirk promised, adding she hoped Friday's leaders broadcasts had revealed to doubters what she had known all along - that Dr Brash is a man of "integrity, warmth and sincerity".

By this time the party's MPs and candidates were on stage as a backdrop for Dr Brash.

He delivered his speech - which started with his telling how 147 years ago his great-great-grandfather William Brash had come to this land of opportunity that is no longer - word for word off the notes with poise and confidence. But Hopkins the showman was a hard act to follow and if he was loosening the audience up for some sort of exulted outpouring, Dr Brash wasn't the man to unleash it.

The leader's speech included the odd witticism.

And the clapping picked up in pace when Dr Brash pitted his credibility against Helen Clark's.

"I, Don Brash, will place the protection of New Zealand's citizens right at the very top of the list of solemn duties of the Prime Minister of this land.

"And if I sign a painting, it will be because I painted it."

Jim McLay was there - and Jenny and Burton Shipley, near the front in matching pinstripe trouser suits. They seemed to be enjoying the occasion.

Also present was former Winz boss Christine Rankin, in lemon.

And John Banks - who missed several National meetings during an ultimately unsatisfying flirtation with Act - appeared back in the fold.

There were hundreds of blue and white balloons and streamers and plenty of positive vibes and optimism.

But the mood wasn't one of invincibility.

While the champagne bottles might have been ordered, the corks aren't popping.

Despite Hopkins' efforts, the Nats didn't look convinced they were winners yet.