Pity about the stadium thing (I'm a ratepayer to the ORC and highly object my $$$ going to this grandiose nonsense) but we cant have everything. I suppose.

I'd like to see a society where a Chinese candidate is electable in Tauranga or West Coast.

Or Gisborne?

Oh, wait.

They actively recruit Maori, Pacific Island, Asian and female police officers.

I see that you are correct

I'd like to see a society where a Chinese candidate is electable in Tauranga or West Coast.

So would I. So tell Labour that their candidate is a disappointment.

Still, National felt a homophobic bigot was electable in Wellington Central..

The same way I think it would be good to have an ethnically diverse police force — which we also don't have.

I should point out that the police put a lot of effort into trying to increase ethical and gender diversity in the police. They actively recruit Maori, Pacific…

Brickley Paiste, go back under the bridge – the three billy goat's Gruff will be along shortly.

Ok, will do. Thanks. I'm not sure what you mean but I will.

Why? Because you think they'd be better able to represent an ethnically diverse electorate?

Yes. The same way I think…

Due to limitations of the technology. you cant receive a text message if you dont have a cell-phone. :)

I'd also like to think state agencies aren't going to start spamming the cell phones of people who are under statutory obligation to supply their contact details. I don't think badgering…

Um, there were just on 3 million people enrolled to vote in 2008, and turnout was 79.5%. Now if that could have been boosted by 4.7% to 84.2%, that would have been a truckload more people voting.

Ah yup. But not the figure you came up with – 175,000.

Um, there were just on 3 million people enrolled to vote in 2008, and turnout was 79.5%. Now if that could have been boosted by 4.7% to 84.2%, that would have been a truckload more people voting.

There's another flaw to the numbers,

Due to limitations of the technology. you…

I think your maths needs work

Um, there were just on 3 million people enrolled to vote in 2008, and turnout was 79.5%. Now if that could have been boosted by 4.7% to 84.2%, that would have been a truckload more people voting.

That's empowerment.

One of the failings of lefties is always to assume that certain classes of people will always support the left: students, workers, ethnic minorities. Time and again, these assumptions are proven wrong, but the bitter truth does not make them go away.

Another failing I've noticed is the arrogance of…

Elections during exam time suck – if the Greens were smart they'd sign students up for early voting before the exams kicked in

The prospects of registering a bunch of Green students in any one electorate looks pretty dim tbh.

You could do it in Dunedin. But that's such a strong Labour seat that it wouldn't be worth it.

The point is though that students are a pretty heterogenous bunch, and vote all…

Remember, out-of-town students live in their university electorate too

Not strictly — in Wgtn, students are split between Rongotai and Wellington Central (Vic's in Wgtn Central) & possibly Ohariu-Belmont? Not sure about Auckland or Dunedin. In Christchurch students are split between Wigram, Ilam (Canterbury's in Ilam), and Chch Central.

Out of…

An excellent plan, but for one slight drawback: we have not had university electorates for some decades now. Voters are required to register in the electorates where they live, which might be some way from University.

Or it might not. Remember, out-of-town students live in their university electorate too. This…

Me I go with what works: in a controlled experiment last year, the Electoral Commission found that people who got a text from the orange elections guy on the day had a 4.7% higher voting turnout.

Now that would be a simple way to get another 175,000 more votes on…

To be fair, I did see Russel Norman out at the Avondale markets

Isnt Avondale part of the New Lynn electorate?
I guess a nearby attraction to your target will get a certain number of the punters you are aiming for... but it will get far more that cant help…

various about university electorates and turnout

Me I go with what works: in a controlled experiment last year, the Electoral Commission found that people who got a text from the orange elections guy on the day had a 4.7% higher voting turnout.

Now that would be a simple way to…

but they don't seem to have done the unglamorous footsoldier stuff

To be fair, I did see Russel Norman out at the Avondale markets at 8am on a grey Sunday morning. I can't say he looked very excited to be there, but he was there, complete with Green promo-girls signing…

An excellent plan, but for one slight drawback: we have not had university electorates for some decades now.

I didn't know there ever was such a thing as a special university electorate – I just meant the electorate the university is in.

Sadly students have the worst turnout of any…

Dude, come out. We can still see the top of your helmet.

That's unsporting, Brown. We're going to have to waste time fragging the furniture. :)

An excellent plan, but for one slight drawback: we have not had university electorates for some decades now

And, somehow, I don't really think Grant Robertson, Annette King, Clare Curran, David Bennett, Iain Lees-Galloway, Brendon Burns, Nikki Kaye, Rodney Hyde, and whoever else I've left out with fairly large student…

(81st ducks under desk)

Dude, come out. We can still see the top of your helmet.

as I said, the hoardings suggested they thought they could just re-run last year's general election campaign.

Couldn't resist

That'll be them recycling then.......

(81st ducks under desk)

In fact, I wonder if it would be possible for the Greens to rort an electorate by focusing on one (or more) of the universities, going on a membership drive and getting the students to reregister in the university electorate instead of back at their parents houses.

Sadly students have…

Nah, sorry: they should have had every party member in Auckland working for their co-leader. If nothing else, it would have been a very good training exercise.

In a perfect world, sure. But I can tell you from experience that the ways of being told to get lost because of…

In fact, I wonder if it would…

But it seems like they didn't know how. In one way, that makes sense — MMP campaigns are national, and important electorate races like this are rare. But if they want the security of an electorate MP, they'll have to start some time.

It seems like they don't know, because…

You work with what you've got, and while I've got a lot of respect for the Greens I don't know they've got the activist base and networks in Mount Albert that Labour has (and arguably takes for granted).

Nah, sorry: they should have had every party member in Auckland working…

Greens should be hanging out at bus stops and train stations!

Yes you'd think so – but hubby has only seen John Boscowan on the buses & trains so far & he travels by train from Mt Albert to the city most days.

Quite. We have seen many Labour & National minions at various intersections, waving ribbons & placards over the past month (even inthe pouring rain) and have seen John Boscowan at the local Pak 'n Save.
But not a Green to be seen.....

Supporting car culture, surely. Greens should be hanging out at…

And I still don't think they've got to grips with real electoral campaigning. I might be doing them a disservice, but they don't seem to have done the unglamorous footsoldier stuff

I think you are Russell — if Labour couldn't put together a decent ground operation in Mount Albert (and…

But not a Green to be seen.....

We did have a Green supporter come round to leaflet us and have a chat – although it was abbreviated since we were just getting into our car to leave the house. She probably appreciated being able to stop under the carport during…

but they don't seem to have done the unglamorous footsoldier stuff

Quite. We have seen many Labour & National minions at various intersections, waving ribbons & placards over the past month (even inthe pouring rain) and have seen John Boscowan at the local Pak 'n Save.
But not a Green to be…

I still don't think they're presenting themselves in such a way as to assure the public that they have policies on things other than clean rivers and carbon, but they're moving there.

And I still don't think they've got to grips with real electoral campaigning. I might be doing them…

I still don't think they're presenting themselves in such a way as to assure the public that they have policies…

From memory, I put it to Norman that he'd been seen, even by some Green Party members, as being unduly aggressive towards Shearer, and he acknowledged that he had and regretted it. I was impressed by that.

Sure, but I do get pissed off at some folks — both National…

From memory, I put it to Norman that he'd been seen, even by some Green Party members, as being unduly aggressive towards Shearer, and he acknowledged that he had and regretted it. I was impressed by that.

He also clarified what he actually meant to say about Shearer…

I wasn't able to listen to the Norman interview on PA Radio (unless there's a podcast?).

There is here.

What change of tone has he engaged in? I presume he's stopped acting confrontationally towards Shearer. Otherwise, are they campaigning on anything apart from 'think of the children' and 'stop the motorway'?

And I'll split the difference and say both arguments are rather silly.

I'm not saying that I think Shearer should have been selected solely on this basis. Because that would be rather silly. :)

Or will this invoke the s92A thread?

Russell seems to have resolved that particular problem for now.

but I find it unfortunate that Labour didn't run a first or second generation ethnic NZer

Why? Because you think they'd be better able to represent an ethnically diverse electorate?

I'm of the opinion that someone who has worked in, and with the populations of, NZ, Liberia, Somalia, Rwanda, Serbia,…

Declaring Lee to be similarly "multicultural" possibly added to the insult.

Shearer's win will be momentous.

For too long have the halls of power been denied to physically able wealthy heterosexual highly educated white men.

In many ways, he reminds me of Rosa Parks.

It doesn't seem to have come…

I'm almost afraid to ask... what do ACT supporters look like apart from the cloven hooves, baby blood stains and the clouds of sulphur?

The Laffer Curves crudely carved into their foreheads tend to give them away.

(Or will this invoke the s92A thread?)

On the basis of a quick look at Slater's blog today, I hope he knows a good defamation lawyer

You do ? Really? Well, he probably hopes he does.

I bet the people he defames/inappropriately photoshops don't.

Is the fact that no one takes you seriously an actual defence though?

Well, when Roman Polanski sued Vanity Fair over an article alleging he propositioned a woman while literally driving to his wife's funeral, they tried running the defence that he didn't have a reputation to damage. Didn't work,…

Is the fact that no one takes you seriously an actual defence though?

Also: Boscawen advocated only a month ago that the Waterview motorway be built above ground. What's he doing going to "Tunnel or Nothing" meetings?

Which wouldn't necessarily make the fax and sending it OK, just seems not worth the effort for 'theft as a servant'. I personally couldn't care if my local government employees occasionally send personal faxes on their work machines as long as…

I quite like the fact that it is not many, and then with careful targetting it gets widely distributed. Great leveraging!

Brian: Let me introduce you to an acquaintance whose fax machine was being routinely spammed in the middle of the night by a number of MPs (one Nat, one…

I quite like the fact that it is not many, and then with careful targetting it gets widely distributed. Great leveraging!

He was at the "tunnel or nothing" march on Saturday.

Which is more than one can say for Steven Joyce, who appears to have conveniently lied to the meida when he said he would "return to the Mt. Albert electorate within two weeks" to discuss the motorway issue – yet…

Just people getting into it, I think. It's quite neat.

And it never hurts to ask nicely. The worse that can happen is being told to bugger off, and if you can't handle that you're really not going to find retail politics a pleasant experience.

I was just struggling with the idea of Slater being any kind of victim.

I feel your pain, Russell. You can borrow my wire brush, if you like. :) I'm just struggling to feel an excess of sympathy for Williams (or whoever the thin-skinned little petal at the NSCC turns…

What, nothing about Key endorsing John Banks for Supermayor?

National politicians tend to try and distance themselves from Mayors, esp large metropolitan 'super-mayors' who tend to get a little nutty and difficult to control (obviously this would never happen with Banks).

How does that work ? Undecided voter's house ? Flatmates with different political views ?

Just people getting into it, I think. It's quite neat.

There is a house on Western Springs Road proudly displaying hoardings for both Act's John Boscawen and the Greens' Russel Norman.

There are actually quite a few houses in the electorate (including one on Pt Chev Rd) displaying hoardings from all the "major" parties, Labour, National, Greens (always slightly smaller…

And your point is, Russell? Andy Williams isn't exactly shy about trash-talking his political enemies, but I'd be disinclined to make any excuses if the obscene bullshit was flowing in the other direction.

I think it would be wise to establish who actually sent the fax before condemning Williams, but…

"Was it the mayor?" Farrar asks in his headline. Well, if it was, it would be even more improper. But it does bear noting that that Cameron Slater has been spewing abuse at Andrew Wiliams for months.

And your point is, Russell? Andy Williams isn't exactly shy about trash-talking his…

He was at the "tunnel or nothing" march on Saturday. I suggested to him that he should…

What, nothing about Key endorsing John Banks for Supermayor?

Lord forbid that I should gazump Mr Slack.

a decent and intelligent man but hardly a natural campaigner

I wonder if David Shearer isn't a little too self-effacing for his own good. Granted, his predecessor made an enduring problem for herself with the "popular and competent" remark, but this guy has lived a life far from ordinary, taken…