Peters confident after hard campaign

8.00pm

Winston Peters says he is confident he will be rewarded by voters tomorrow.

After starting the campaign at the foot of the polls with political vultures circling, New Zealand First has quadrupled its support in a six-week campaign.

It can thank Mr Peters for that; he has hammered out his party's mantra up and down the country to send it up the polls as those with greater resources lost ground.

His message was simple and unrelenting: stop the treaty gravy train, rope in immigration, make the streets safe again...

"We've campaigned real hard," Mr Peters told NZPA yesterday, his optimism barely dampened when a blob of salad dressing sullied his perfectly pressed suit.

"There's nowhere in the Western world where you could get away without campaigning, except in New Zealand."

Labour and National did not campaign well, he said, after a typically populist speech to a large crowd in Tauranga.

"It's as though a 10-second sound bite and a picture opportunity is campaigning.

"It's not. What we did today is campaigning, and what we did yesterday and all the other days, that's campaigning."

He drove through the night to make it to early morning meetings.

One such trip took him from the Bay of Islands to Tauranga. He has been as far south as Dunedin, and to the Far North.

"It's been exhausting," he said.

"If I'd have had three more weeks, I would have got to every city in this country. We didn't have the time, you can't do everything.

"We've had public meetings all over the country. It works. We're prepared to have dialogue with New Zealanders at public meeting after public meeting.

"We believe we'll have good news on Saturday."

Prime Minister Helen Clark has ruled out inviting New Zealand First to join a coalition post-election, dubbing its policies "offensive and daft".

She could still seek its support on confidence and money supply.

As the polls stand, New Zealand First will return to Parliament with more than 10 MPs.

That could put it in a strong negotiating position, depending on how other parties fare.

Mr Peters told NZPA he would be available to take calls the morning after the election, but refused to outline what role he would seek in any new Government, or who he could or could not work with.

"I've not thought about Sunday in that context," he said.

"We've worked real hard on this campaign and I'm looking forward to a sleep in on Sunday morning."

Miss Clark had tried to "hi-jack" the election by pondering her coalition options out loud, before people had voted, he said.

He refused to do that.

One thing he did rule out was going fishing with his mates on Sunday, as he has done after previous elections.

It was winter, so the fishing was not as good, he said.

And it was the fault of news media, who criticised him for not being available the last time he took to the sea post-election.

"Unfortunately when you try to do something relaxing to wind down from the campaign, the media will not let you do it, so we'll have to stay close to home and answer the phone," he said.

"They've turned a normal recreational activity into some sort of sin, they're not going to get the chance to do it this time."

- NZPA

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