Paul Holmes: Voters have pick of safe choices

John Banks, left, and Len Brown level off at the debate. Photo / Steven McNicholl

It was the main mayoral election event the other night: a debate at the town hall between John Banks, Len Brown, an ebullient Colin Craig and a strangely subdued Andrew Williams. The NZ Herald asked me to be the MC.

It wasn't too onerous a task. The brunt of the questioning would be borne by veteran journalists Bernard Orsman, Fran O'Sullivan and Bevan Rapson.

Good luck, I thought, you chaps can do all of the boring thinking about the local body issues and I'll just come in and out every now and then and tie it all together. Which is more or less how it worked. In fact, everyone did a great job.

I don't mean local issues are boring. They just never go away, they never get solved. There is never enough money. From what we heard the other night, I'm damned if I know how we'll ever afford another harbour crossing, a nice fast train to the airport or smart trains to get us all round the place.

Len seemed to be ready to spend left, right and centre. God knows where the money would come from. Banks, these days, seems to think we can afford nothing. God knows what would happen were he to be elected mayor.

Interesting characters, all of them. I do like John Banks; have done since he was a feisty young blood in Bolger's cabinet. Fran O'Sullivan has known him much longer. People who know John Banks have a lot of time for him.

He looked tired the other night. I have never seen him look so tired. I think he was knocked about badly by the business with the King's College boy who drank himself to death, with the finger of blame being pointed at John Banks' son who was at the party as well. It hit John right in the guts.

And it hit John's boy badly, too. Those children, Russian orphans, have a lot of turmoil in their hearts. I don't know anything but I imagine John and Amanda Banks have their work cut out. Certainly, John looked tired. And he's got a lot on his plate, running a city and a campaign as well.

So does Len Brown, of course, who did not seem as tired. Yet he is far too flower-power and inclusive and everyone-hold-hands for my taste.

It may have been the difficult acoustics, or it might be that I am going deaf after years of headphones, but I found myself unable to hear or comprehend much of what Len Brown had to say.

Len would start to speak and I would head off in my mind to North Africa or the South of France.

As for Colin Craig, I have no idea what he's about. He says the rest of them are failed and tired and represent the old, failed ways of doing things. He believes in innovation. He believes rail is the technology of a former age.

It may be so but I don't know that anyone has yet come up with anything quite as good for getting people round a city. I asked him what we would replace rail with? Spaceships? I thought I was very funny. But he was bright and young and energetic and he was frightened of none of them and he did very well, Colin Craig.

But in his final 30-second address he went completely off his trolley and started talking about rising up and following the bright lights or something. It was JFK at the fairground. It did not work.

I rather like Andrew Williams, too. But again, as another columnist has observed, he was quite subdued the other night. He was also reasonable.

He has good facts, not that I can remember any of them. He is sound enough, however. I wish he were standing for the super council.

Anyway, it was a long time to be standing, I'll tell you that. Nearly two hours. I found myself yearning for a commercial break. Very handy, commercial breaks. You can touch up your makeup, have a sit down and do some thinking and rethinking.

Even on Q+A we get the odd little break. I don't know what they fill them with - public service announcements, I suppose.

So it came and went. None of the candidates will set the world on fire. None of them except Banks, on a good day perhaps, could set an American convention alight.

As a voter, I find myself crying out for oratory. Is it too much to ask to be swept up in swirling, inspirational words? Still, the battle will be won by either Banks or Brown. Either one is safe enough. But don't expect that train to the airport anytime soon.