KEY POINTS:
So who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? Well, Winston Peters isn't that big. Whatever adjective you may want to use to describe him, bad should not be one of them. And the last time we looked he didn't have a fur coat.
Even so, the likelihood of bumping into the NZ First leader at Tauranga's Greerton shopping centre was enough for John Key to cancel his scheduled walkabout at the same location yesterday.
It was the stuff of nightmares for National's spin doctors. Do you put the leader at risk of a confrontation in which he might come off second best? Or do you simply not turn up, prompting accusations the leader is running scared.
It is no great surprise Key and his advisers went for the second option, given National's cautious, take-no-risks election strategy.
But why were they worrying?
Had he run into Peters, Key could have extended his hand - which Peters, a man of manners, would have shook - and then mouthed a pleasantry or two before walking on. If Peters had started arguing about Key ruling out working with him, Key could have just walked away.
Key says he was not prepared to be dragged into "the Peters soap-opera".
It is understandable National did not want to give Peters any oxygen in the very seat in which it is out to clobber him once and for all.
But there is the not small matter of leadership and sticking to your guns. Being fazed by Winston Peters does not make you look like a Prime Minister.
It was a mixed day for National's leader, however. His pick for the Melbourne Cup, Nom Du Jeu, failed to make the money.
Then National was made to sweat over another secret tape from the party's pre-conference cocktail party, this one catching Bill English making disparaging remarks about Barack Obama's willingness to "pull the trigger" as the world's sheriff in the way George W. Bush has done.
The comments made English sound somewhat militaristic - as Helen Clark put it. Surprisingly militaristic, in fact, considering English overruled some in his caucus who wanted New Zealand troops to join the American-led invasion of Iraq when he was leader in 2003.
Otherwise, the tape is a one-night wonder. That was not the case with Key's other headache yesterday - Breakfast host Paul Henry trying to make him rule out entrenching the Maori seats in law given it is National policy to abolish them.
Key's difficulty is the Maori Party may come to the post-election negotiating table with entrenchment as a bottom line. Yet his party has lumbered Key with a policy that is diametrically-opposed.
He ducked. He fudged. The prevarication didn't look good.
But it means on Sunday morning that if he needs the Maori Party, he has not given it reason to slam the door in his face. Now that's leadership.
