KEY POINTS:
The party changed its name to Jim Anderton's Progressives Party before the last election, to cash in on his name. It had a prophetic effect.
Anderton returned to Parliament as a one-man band, retaining the Wigram electorate that has been his since 1984.
His offsider, Matt Robson, missed out by just the slimmest of margins, with just a few hundred more party votes needed to make him a List MP.
Anderton, ranked third in Cabinet, was as supportive as ever in coalition with Labour. At 70, he is Parliament's oldest member, and still ticking over quite nicely.
As Minister of Agriculture, he extracted $700 million from Finance Minister Michael Cullen to set up a research fund for agriculture.
He finally won his fight with the party pill industry, with the ban on its main ingredient, BZP, becoming law.
He also launched a national depression initiative, and is proud of the John Kirwan advertisements which led to a surge of men seeking help.
Anderton still brings genuine left-wing and conservative ideals to the cabinet table. But there has been no real "progressive" policy this term.
The Progressives don't register with the public. The differences between Anderton and a Labour MP are not clear.
He has an agree-to-disagree clause with Labour. It didn't really get dusted off this term. Anderton abstained from voting to censure Winston Peters.
That left him on the fence between the Privilege's Committee's recommendation and the Labour Party's rejection of it. He had concerns about Peters, but no confidence in the politicised committee.
Anderton took heart from the Herald's one man's poll, in which Progressives got their magic 1.4 per cent.
In that poll, unlike others, potential voters got to see the list of parties and therefore his name - just like they will in the ballot box.
He will find the public sympathetic to the Progressives' proposal to subsidise dental care in a similar way to doctor's visits.
This may well be his last election. Anderton wants to get Robson back in, to give the Progressives a succession plan of sorts.
Whether it will be called Jim Anderton's Progressives Party after he's gone remains to be seen.
