KEY POINTS:
The kettle's boiled and the biscuits are going soft but the Summerland audience's quizzing of their election candidates is still at full pace after two hours.
They squint to look up at the stage in the school hall's harsh yellow light which, at times, turns candidates' face makeup an olive-green hue.
"I've worked for 50 years," says the big grey-headed man picking up the audience microphone.
"Neither me nor any of my family have been unemployed. But we are finding the cost of everything is going up. How are we going to cope in our retirement years?"
Another man asks: "Who has the guts to take gst off? It's killing the country. Why not start by taking it off food?"
A woman says she has a "burning" issue: "Why doesn't Waitakere Hospital have a full 24 x7 accident and emergency services and what can you do to address it?"
Summerland is a new community that has sprouted in the hilly paddocks of Henderson.
It's a place of working families but few are among the 60 residents who have come out on a chilly night to hear nine Waitakere electorate candidates.
They applaud loudest the answers offered by Labour candidate Lynne Pillay, who has held the seat for six years and her main challenger, Paula Bennett who is a National list MP.
The two women are old rivals.
In 2005 the Labour MP won with a majority of nearly 5000 votes over Paula Bennett. Lynne Pillay increased her vote that year on her 2002 effort when she won by 2333 votes.
This time, Paula Bennett expects a swing toward National will eat into that big margin.
In parliament, placed 41 on the National list, she has taken starkly different stances on causes close to the heart of Lynne Pillay.
When the latter sponsored the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Protection Area Bill, Paula Bennett spoke against it.
As National spokeswoman on early childhood education, she exposed pitfalls in the Government's 20 Hours Free scheme for early childhood centres.
At Summerland, Lynne Pillay said she had in the past year visited every early childhood education facility in Waitakere and most had taken up the scheme.
Paula Bennett said she was still working her way round the electorate's schools and had found the principals were outstanding.
"But when 22 per cent of our young people leave school without qualifications to go on to university, I think you need a scrapper _ someone who says it's not good enough."
Since 2005, Waitakere electorate's boundaries have changed, with chunks of North Titirangi and Glen Eden lost to neighbouring Labour-held electorates.
On paper, the adjustment has opened a prospect for National in Sunnyvale's young families.
Swings and roundabouts may not be enough to stop the West staying all Red _ from the black sands of the west coast to the shores of the sparkling Waitemata Harbour.
Next door in Te Atatu, Education Minister Chris Carter seems invincible against a long-time rival, the National list MP Tau Henare, who is National spokesman for Maori Affairs and who was Minister of Maori Affairs in the National-New Zealand First coalition government of 1996-99.
Mr Carter's 2005 majority was 10,447 and Labour also took 52 per cent of party votes.
Since, Kelston has been transferred to the New Lynn electorate and Te Atatu remains an electorate that is sensitive to the effects of Government policies.
In the third west Auckland seat of New Lynn, Health Minister David Cunliffe is comfortably placed against a challenge from National rising star and list MP Tim Groser.
Mr Cunliffe kept his seat in 2005 with a majority of 8078 votes against National's Mita Harris. He won 10,000 votes and this time is seeking election in the Mangere seat. His successor, Mr Groser, is No15 on the party list and in his first term has been the party's spokesman for arts, culture and heritage. He is associate spokesman for foreign affairs and trade due to his previous career as international trade expert and negotiator.
WAITAKERE
Sitting MP: Lynne Pillay (Labour).
Age: 58
Background: Former nurse and trade unionist. In 2002, she won Waitakere, a redrawn seat. Chairs Justice & Electoral Select Committee.
Main challenger: Paula Bennett (National).
Age: 39
Background: Proud of part Maori and Tongan ancestry and life as working single parent. Lives in Waitakere and failed to unseat Lynne Pillay in 2005, though became list MP. Member of National's education team.
