Kiwiblog

A photo from inside the new larger Blogmobile 2.0. It is almost ten metres long so I am looking forward to trying to parallel park it!

I announced last week the blogmobile is back. Well it is bigger and better, as you can see below.

Yes we now have dual donors – Barrons and VnC Cocktails. And even better VnC are suppling copious amounts of product – so there will be Blogmobile party nights!

Hat Tip: Whale Oil

Thanks to the kind generosity of Barrons, the blogmobile is returning for the Mt Albert by-election.

There won’t be as many kms to cover, but it will be a handy mobile office for Whale Oil and myself to blog on and report on the by-election, for the last ten days or so.

Plans are not finalised, but at this stage keen to do the following:

• Video interviews with all the candidates
• A special by-election quiz for visiting MPs
• Live blogging from Meet the Candidates meeting
• Daily vox pop with residents on a topical issue
• Cover major events
• Maybe spend half a day on the campaign trail with major candidates, and do a 20 – 30 minute summary?

As with last time, open invite for others to come on board for a day or more. Also ideas for coverage welcome.

Please meet the Terrawind, our desired blogmobile for the 2011 election.

A nice sleek exterior.

The inside looks even better.

And best of all it works on water also!

That is just beyond cool.

Just outside Waiouru and it is snowing and hailing. Very cold outside.

In Auckland we interviewed three National MPs. First was Judith Collins MP for Clevedon and candidate for Papakura.

Judith became MP for Clevedon after defeating the incumbent MP, Warren Kyd, for the nomination in 2002. She then went on to win the general election by 3,127 over Dave Hereora. In 2005 Judith scored a massive majority of 12,871 in Clevedon. However a big change in boundaries sees her paper majority cut to an estimated 6,820 in the new seat of Papakura. So still far from marginal and Judith is expected to be a front bench Minister if National wins.

Judith says law and order is the biggest issue in her area. Says people just want the crims locked away.Favours looking at a law change to protect shop keepers defending their stores. For the US election, Judith is a strong supporter of John McCain – partly a reflection of her work in NZ with Vietnam Veterans. Says McCain is a man of incredible courage, decency and tenacity. However predicts Obama will win.

Finally she predicts Goff will get there first, but not last long. Personally hopes Cunliffe gets it, and all National MPs are hoping it is Cunliffe!

I’m around a week behind with blogging from the blogmobile, so will be doing a series of catch up posts over the next two days.

It is lots of fun out on the road, but fitting in time for driving, work for my business, blogging the national stuff, meeting and interviewing locals and then actually blogging about them has been hard.

Anyway back to Rotorua. which was the weekend before last. Rotorua as a city tends to be Labour voting, but on the new boundaries is marginally National. It has a high Maori population and at the local markets I would have said it was 50/50 Maori and non-Maori.

So it was interesting to observe the warm reception John Key got there – lots of people wanting to chat to him, even sing to him.

John was a good enough sport to give us a quick interview, above. He cited the economy as easily the biggest issue for NZers. He also endorsed parts of the NZX plan (and this was prior to him announcing the NZ Super Fund policy which was in there) except for capital gains tax. John said 2002 was his first ever election – he was a prefect at school but that was “selected by the Gods higher up”.

He was cautious on McCain vs Obama but did say McCain was a strong supporter of NZ, but sure Obama will be also. He didn’t rule out offering Sarah Palin a role in his administration if she didn’t make it to Vice-President in the US. His tax cuts did go on the legendary block of cheese and for the final question he chose Goff over Cunliffe – but did predict Goff would not be there long.

Todd “Boris” McClay is the local candidate – and also cooks up great bacon and eggs at midnight! He was born in Rotorua and returned to NZ after many years in Europe, including representing several Pacific states to the European Union.

Todd picked crime as the biggest local issue from his door knocking. I asked Todd how a non Cook Islander ended up as their Ambassador to the European Union. Todd artfully pointed out he was made an Honorary Cook Islander a few years ago in gratitude for his services, so he may be our first Cook Islands MP!

Internationally Todd is backing Obama as he is about the future. On the tax cuts he,like many candidates, is without income so gets nothing from tax cuts but if he was working would invest them in KiwiSaver. And finally he picks Michael Cullen ahead of Goff and Cunliffe for the future!

Steve Chadwick was there also. Sadly Steve wasn’t keen to take part – a pity because this is all light hearted stuff – nothing tough or nasty. Anyway Cameron got some footage of Steve refusing.

Rotorua has been held by Chadwick since 1999, winning it off Max Bradford with a 4,978 majority. In 2002 she extended that to 7.744. This got knocked back to 662 in 2005 and on the new 2008 boundaries it is marginally National by 366 votes.

This is one of those seats National would expect to win if it becomes Government. Chadwick is No 30 on Labour’s list and would come back in on 32% of the vote, so should be back regardless. McClay is 54 on National’s list and would come in on around 45%.

Staying with a friend in Hamilton. The bitch (and I mean that in a loving caring way) sent the kids in to wake me up and play games with me before 7 am, so she could get some more sleep. That would be bad enough at the best of times, but as I had been drinking Black Russians until 3 am it was cruel and unusual punishment.

Spent a couple of hours building forts from cushions with Master Four and Miss Two. Very tiring, especially after four hours sleep. The day before I had to fend them (and a visiting Miss Six) off for over an hour as they launched light sabre attacks on me. What I found amusing is playing the games on Thursday gets you a bit clucky as it is great fun to be a big kid. But then having to do the same again at 7 am the next morning squarely puts me back into the “Thank God I don’t have kids” camp.

Anyway I now know all of Thomas the Tank Engine’s friends off by heart!

Also quite amusing to go outside this morning, and find the rabbit asleep in its rabbit hutch, and the next door neighbour’s cat asleep on top of the hutch. It seems the cat has been trying to have rabbit stew for some days. This would be a very bad thing as they are only babysitting the rabbit for friends.

Oh well, time to start heading up to Auckland for National’s campaign launch. I think it will be a slow day today!

Three more interviews from the blogmobile, from during the week.

This one was interesting, as we did it while driving. Nikki Kaye was down from Auckland to appears in Back Benchers. Her plane was delayed though and we didn’t leave the airport until 8.40 pm, with the live show starting just after 9 pm.

So we did the interview as we drove from the airport. I drove and asked the questions with Nikki in the passenger seat and Cameron standing up holding the camera. Amazingly it came out okay.

Nikki said the economy was the number one issue in Auckland Central and her first election was at school to become Head Prefect. She goes for McCain but diplomatically also praised Obama and Clinton.

In response to the question on what will she do with her tax cuts, Nikki revealed that sadly she has been a full-time candidate so the tax cuts won’t benefit her at all. And in response to Goff vs Cunliffe, she opted for depression if she had to choose

Then the next day we ran into John Hayes in Wairarapa and interviewed John in front of his vehicle.

We talked about the peacock called Winston and his propensity to shit everywhere. Without hesitation he said the biggest issue in the Wairarapa was Helen Clark, and wanting to get rid of her. John revealed his first election was at Lincoln University for Student Association President, which he won.

On the international front John went for Obama over McCain, saying his head says Obama and his heart McCain. And the final Goff vs Cunliffe question got a response of Shane Jones – definitely a possible contender.

Final interview was Nick Bryant, who was our gracious host on his family vineyard and farm. Nick made some predictions for the parties for the election – NZ First 4%, Maori Party all seven seats and 3%, Greens 7% to 7.5%, Labour 33% to 34%, ACT 2.5% to 3%, National close to 50%.

Nick predicted Obama would romp in, as John looks too much like George. And in response to the traditional Goff vs Cunliffe questions, went for Cunliffe.

I’m in Rotorua and have just had the most wonderful shower. One of those real high pressure ones which will be banned in the very near future. Enjoy them while you can I reckon!

Left Wellington around 3 pm yesterday. Spent most of the trip working on reports for clients or articles for various publications. Generally it is no problem working on the laptop while travelling – however doing so over the Rimutakas yesterday did made me feel a bit sick.

Got a bit of a backlog of videos to link to and summarise, but should catch up today. We had dinner in Bulls and hit Rotorua at 9 pm, where National candidate Todd McClay has kindly provided a superb bed and breakfast service!

Going to cover Todd and John Key out at the markets and then head over to Hamilton later in the day.

We met Winston the peacock when working hard from the blogmobile in the Wairarapa today. They owners told us they got him around 15 years ago and named him Winston because he is:

1. vain
2. looks magnificent
3. is noisy
4. and shits on everything

Winston was truly a beautiful bird. Very friendly also.

There are four of us in the blogmobile crossing the Rimutakas. Whale, myself, Busted Blonde and the Ginga Ninja. We are also playing Horse as we drive. The sun is out at the moment but may not last all day.

We have debated whether a before and after photo of a hoarding would constitute enough proof for convictions. We reckon it may, so will limit ourselves to just taking photos of ones already altered.

Okay here is the provisional schedule for the blogmobile. It may change but this is it for now:

1. Thu 9 Oct – Wairarapa
2. Fri 10 Oct – Taupo
3. Sat 11 Oct – Taupo
4. Sun 12 Oct – Auckland
5. Mon 13 Oct – Auckland
6. Tue 14 Oct – Tauranga
7. Wed 15 Oct – Gisborne
8. Thu 16 Oct – Gisborne
9. Fri 17 Oct – Napier
10. Sat 18 Oct – Hawke’s Bay
11. Sun 19 Oct – Wairarapa
12. Mon 20 Oct – Wellington
13. Tues 21 Oct – Wellington
14. Wed 22 Oct – Wellington
15. Thu 23 Oct – Wellington
16. Fri 24 Oct – New Plymouth
17. Sat 25 Oct – Wanganui
18. Sun 26 Oct – Palmerston North
19. Mon 27 Oct – Wellington
20. Tue 28 Oct – Wellington
21. Wed 29 Oct – Auckland
22. Thu 30 Oct – Auckland
23. Fri 31 Oct – Kerikeri
24. Sat 01 Nov – Whangarei
25. Sun 02 Nov – North Shore
26. Mon 03 Nov – Wellington
27. Tue 04 Nov – Hutt
28. Wed 05 Nov – Wellington
29. Thu 06 Nov – Wellington
30. Fri 07 Nov – Auckland
31. Sat 08 Nov – Auckland

We would love to have been able to visit the South Island but it costs $1,000 to take it on the ferry, and we would have needed two weeks at least to do the South Island properly.

Heaps of people have already kindly offered a bed or meal for the night. They are all being gratefully accepted. Just e-mail me if you can do so.

Peter and Mike we did inside the blogmobile, with two cameras. Sadly this means you get to see a bit of me, as well as the candidates. Big kudos to Cameron for providing the gear and getting them trimmed and put onto You Tube.

A reminder the questions were:

1. What is the biggest issue for the voters of your electorate?
2. When did you first stand for election of any sort – was it at school?
3. McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden?
4. What will you do with the tax cuts you just got?
5. Goff or Cunliffe?

Peter McCaffrey was our first interview. He cited the economy as the biggest issue. For the question about whether he ever stood for election at school, I checked that Peter had in fact left school

Peter went for McCain/Palin. He was doubtful about McCain until Palin came along, but agrees with her on economic issues. Peter is not working at the moment so sadly gets no tax cuts. And in the final question he goes for Goff.

Mike Collins was next up. He agrees that the economy is the biggest issue – even more than law and order. On the US bailout he says it is good in the short term but in the long term may lead to more risky behaviour if people think the Government will bail them out.

Mike stood for VUWSA President a few years ago, and says he was lucky to be the only person on his ticket not to get elected. He also plugs for McCain on the basis of his free trade policies and support for NZ getting a real free trade deal.

His tax cuts are good for a dozen beer he reckons and like Peter opts for Goff.

Third up is David Scott, NZ First candidate for Otaki. He says the biggest issue for Otaki voters is to keep Winston and NZ First in Parliament and not leave it to the two big parties.

On the US front he has problems with both candidates for supporting the bailout but finally says “Not McCain”. David’s tax cuts are less than a $1 so he said no big change to his lifestyle. And on Cunliffe vs Goff, he says stay with Helen.

The final interview from the trip is Josie Pagani from Jim Anderton’s Progressives. Josie explains she was happy to have Pagani as her surname as her maiden name of Harbutt saw her called “Hard Butt” all through school

Josie picks transport as the biggest issue for Otaki voters, and also health. She says she has been unable to get a GP since returning from overseas. Josie also relates how she campaigned at university for a student exec position and finished with “Vote for me, I am more left wing than him” and it worked as she got elected. I suggested it could become the Progressive’s campaign slogan.

Josie surprised no one by going for Obama/Biden. Respects Sarah Palin as a working mum, but she does not have the experience to be VP. Her plans for her tax cuts involve a new pair of shoes, and she said not to tell her husband John. Whoops.

Big thanks to all the candidates for taking part. As you can see we’re not exactly doing hard news, but we do think it is nice to allow voters to see a bit more of their candidates, and give them some opportunities to talk issues. Most of it, we’re enjoying doing it. When you are not getting paid to do something, you only do it if it is fun.

Frontpage (which makes Agenda) has two debates coming up on TVNZ7:

The Swing Seats debates will be in two seats that could be crucial to the outcome of the election- Epsom and the Maori seat of Ikaroa- Rawhiti.

The Maori seat of Ikaroa–Rawhiti, which encompasses most of the East Coast of the North Island will be one of the most hotly contested seats in this election.

Cabinet Minister Parekura Horomia will go head to head with the Maori Party’s Derek Fox.

This debate will be broadcast in front of a live audience in Gisborne on October the 16th

The second debate is taking place in Epsom on October the 23rd where the colourful ACT leader Rodney Hide will be joined by National MP Richard Worth, Green Party MP Keith Locke and Labour’s Kate Sutton.

Hide needs to win this seat again to stay in parliament.

Both programmes will be LIVE-streamed on the TVNZ webite tvnz.co.nz  (key word : SWING SEATS) and will be available on TVNZ ondemand after they have screened.

They will be produced by the team that makes TV One’s “ Agenda” programme and will be fronted by Agenda co-host and TV One reporter Rawdon Christie wth support from Wallace Chapman, presenter of TVNZ7′s “Back Benches” programme.

Christie with support from TVNZ7′s “Back Benches” presenter, Wallace Chapman, will give the candidates in these “swing seats” a chance to tell the audience and viewers why they have the best policies for their constituents.

To join in the debate as part of the audience, people can write or send an email to the show’s producers explaining who they are and what question they would like to ask the candidates.

Emails can be sent to swingseats@frontpage.co.nz
and letters sent to :
Front Page,
P.O Box 90361
Auckland

The blogmobile has been invited to cover the Ikaroa-Rawhiti debate in Gisborne, so we’ll live blog it also.

Cameron has put onto You Tube our interviews with some of the candidates. Each video is only around two minutes as they answered our five question quiz. I’ll do three of them here and the others later today. The questions were:

1. What is the biggest issue for the voters of your electorate?
2. When did you first stand for election of any sort – was it at school?
3. McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden?
4. What will you do with the tax cuts you just got?
5. Goff or Cunliffe?

Above is Darren Hughes. Darren also answered questions on whether “Gingas” should be given the vote, and he advocated that not only should they be allowed to vote, but that they should be elected in large numbers. It was a fun interview!

His first election was in Standard Four when he won Class Captain in a landslide. He is backing Obama/Biden but was originally a Hillary supporter. His tax cuts have gone towards increasing his mortgage repayments.

For the Goff vs Cunliffe question, Darren just assumed we were talking about Labour Leadership but went on to say the next Leader has yet to be born, but he will happily serve them once they are

Nathan Guy is above. Nathan’s biggest local issue was infrastructure, including Transmission Gully. At school he was elected Chairman of the Student Council. He backs McCain over Obama and then delivered such a word perfect piece on the importance of tax cuts that I suggested the Chief Whip had written it for him (he is Chief Whip for those who don’t get it). On Goff vs Cunliffe he said he does not care but Clark is gone!

And finally Hekia Parata. Hekia named three big issues of lifting productivity and incomes, access to quality education and roading/infrastructure. Hekia’s first political act was taking her third form class on strike in protest over not being able to read the Little Red Schoolbook. She had no idea what was in it but was offended they were told they could not read it. Hekia also mentioned at the end of the story that the Deputy Principal was her father so one can guess how well that went down! Hekia was also elected President of the Waikato Students’ Union.

Hekia said she is concerned about McCain’s age and Palin’s experience so thinks Obama/Biden is a better choice. Says tax cuts are too little too late and taxes should have been reduced a bit every year – not just once at the end of nine years.And finally she dodged the Goff vs Cunliffe question by choosing Key and English.

The Blogmobile had its first official outing to the Kapiti Coast on Sunday. It does take a while to get use to the size and bulk of the vehicle. You do not want to have to slam the brakes on suddenly, so you drive quite cautiously. Mind you, still over took a couple of cars on the way, which surprised them!

I also found no problems working on the laptop while Cameron drove. The Vodafone data card kept a signal the entire trip. And the mat on the table stops the laptop moving about.

Mid afternoon we went to a Waikanae function for Nathan Guy – had 100 or so people there to hear Gerry Brownlee speak. We then had some refreshments at a VWRCNZ farm a few kms north of Waikanae before heading to the Meet the Candidates Meeting in Raumati.

Raumati is actually in Mana electorate, but close to the Otaki boundary so there were candidates there for both electorates. Seven of the candidates (two Nats, one Labour, two ACT, one NZ First and one Progressive) did our five question quiz for the video camera, and I’ll link to their videos later on.

The candidates speaking were:

1. National – Nathan Guy (Otaki) and Hekia Parata (Mana)
2. Labour – Winnie Laban (Mana) and Darren Hughes (Otaki)
3. ACT – Mike Collins (Mana) and Peter McCaffrey (Otaki)
4. NZ First – David Scott (Otaki)
5. United Future – Robin Gunston (Mana)
6. Greens – Michael Gilchrist (Mana)
7. Progressive – Josie Pagani (Otaki)

Each party had eight minutes (they could split between them) to talk, and the topic was meant to be on making communities safer. After that there was an hour of questions from the floor.

All the candidates got a pretty good reception, but David Scott got heckled a fair bit when he spent too much time talking about how wonderful Winston was, and not enough on the actual topic. We got this a bit in the interview also when David said the most critical issue facing voters is getting Winston back into Parliament! I actually know David as he is the ex-husband of a former National MP!

Nathan and Hekia were both very good. Nathan is one of those MPs who speaks to you, not at you – never speaks down at all. And Hekia was wonderful as she gave some great examples from her own family about the challenges parents can have in having their kids safe. You could feel the connection with some in the audience.

Winnie and Darren both gave very polished performances also. Darren uses humour very well, and strikes an easy rapport with people. They were both very on message and avoided stuff which turns off people like blaming crime on a budget from 17 years ago.

Gunston and Gilchrist made no blunders and reflected their party stances as expected.

Likewise Peter and Mike from ACT pushed their party’s policies on law and order. They had one negative moment when Peter pushed Sir Roger Douglas and the generally elderly audience reacted as if he had tortured a cat. But during question time it seemed apparent they had some people agreeing with them on law and order policies.

But the real interesting candidate for me (and no not just because I know her) was Josie Pagani. In fact Josie scared me. She sounded like a Tory, while advocating socialist policies. Now this is really dangerous!! A definite wolf in sheep’s clothing!

She managed to defend the anti-smacking law while at the same time condemning the political correct environment that spawned it by talking about how her kids get reflection notes or some bullshit from school now, and what the hell do they mean. So she had all the audience nodding and agreeing with her, and then artfully adds to her story by saying that violence against kids is horrific though and if we need a better law to make it clear, then she is all for it.

One of the questions was on whether the drinking age should be lifted to 20. I resisted identifying myself as a co-ordinator for the Keep it 18 campaign . It was interesting how the candidates split.

In favour of 20 was the Greens, Progressive, NZ First United Future and one of the Labour candidates (Laban). Now it is a conscience issue but I found it interesting that you had Greens and Progressive agreeing with the more socially conservative parties.

In favour of 18 was both ACT candidates, both National candidates and Darren Hughes from Labour. Hekia Parata did make the point that she did not support lowering it to 18, but now it is 18 one can’t turn it back.

Afterwards we gave Peter and Mike a lift back to Wellington. They were impressed that we had on board a box of ACT’s 20 point plans – Rodney never misses an opportunity and got them for Cameron.

The blogmobile is now in Wellington and most of the gear on board. Thanks to all those who have sent through details of events – keep them coming. And also thanks to all those who have offered a meal or a bed.

On Sunday we are heading up to Otaki for the day – partly to cover a Meet the Candidates meeting. Otaki is the most marginal seat in NZ and will be hard fought – both Darren Hughes and Nathan Guy are well regarded.

During the week we will be in Wairarapa for a day – again chatting to some locals, testing out some dog toys, interviewing candidates and maybe visit some vineyards!. I should warn James S that the driver has been instructed that if James jumps onto the road, we don’t want any skid marks

Helen has climbed further up the dog toy stakes and has hit 60%.

We are also getting a box of the toys for the blogmobile so hope to get some action shots in various towns of dogs with their toys!

We are going mobile for the 2008 election campaign, with the donation of a Winnebago Motorhome for six weeks to serve as a mobile office for the campaign. The motorhome is being dubbed the “Winnebago Blogmobile”.

Barrons Recreational Vehicles in Taupo has donated the use of a Winnebago Motorhome to myself and Whale Oil for the election campaign.

I think this is going to elevate blog coverage of the election to new levels. Thanks to the blogmobile we will be able to follow some of the party leaders about, and also travel to provincial cities and towns to interview people about local candidates and issues. Our aim is to provide election coverage from anywhere in NZ, and have a lot of fun doing it.

Now this is not an exclusive thing. We want to make the blogmobile available to any bloggers, or even media, who wish to travel on board for a day or two. It has heaps of room and comes fully equipped with tables for working at, a TV for following the news broadcasts, a full kitchen and mobile and wireless Internet for the vehicle”.

I’ve already had some expressions of interest, and we are working on an itinerary for the blogmobile. What would be useful is if people e-mailed me (or commented below) if they know of any local events (a high profile debate etc) that could be worth covering and/or if you are interested in spending some time on board. We can’t guarantee specific dates and places at this stage but should be able to within a week or so.