Stepping out of my Mazda on to Tutanekai St to grab a Daily Post on Wednesday, I thought for a second I had instead stepped out of a Delorean and into 16th century France, or specifically Salon-de-Provence, where famed seer Nostradamus spent his latter years.
For on the newsstand I discovered the Daily Post's prediction about the outcome of the Rotorua election, however, just like many of Nostradamus' prophecies, the Daily Post appeared to make some basic mistakes too.
The cover story proclaimed "How Rotorua could end up with 4 MPs". However, a more factual headline would have stated Rotorua could have five MPs after the election. The accompanying article mentioned that if McClay loses his Rotorua seat, he'll still be in on the list. However, the article didn't mention who could take his seat.
The most likely person to do so would be Labour's Ben Sandford. Not only is Sandford a great local candidate with the experience, education and nous to be an excellent MP, he has history on his side.
Two Rotorua Labour candidates have unseated a National MP when they were not only outstanding candidates, but when there was a nationwide mood for change, in 1935 when Michael Joseph Savage became Prime Minister, Rotorua's Alexander Moncur became MP. More recently in 1999, when Helen Clark became Prime Minister, Steve Chadwick became MP.
