HENRY COOKE
How to lose an election
John Tamihere knows a lot about getting attention. But getting someone to listen to you doesn’t always result in them liking what you’re saying.
After the months of huge promises, misleading ads, and that ‘‘sieg heil’’ comment, the much more boring Phil Goff completely stomped Tamihere, more than doubling his vote share in Auckland. It seems Kiwis aren’t all that susceptible to chaotic, attention-grabbing campaigns.
No-one who has ever thought seriously about Auckland’s issues thought an 0800 JACINDA line or multi-billion dollar Harbour Bridge expansion was the solution. They were memorable, but not actually doable.
Kiwis have already had a taste of catchy but apparently impossible policies with KiwiBuild. We don’t like it.
Politicians should not the lessons of local body races however, which are massively different from general elections.
Who knows how the Auckland race would have run had there been weekly public polls, which could generate momentum (or snuff it out). And if turnout had reached the level it does in general elections, would Tamihere have been quite so behind?
The Left will be celebrating in many places: the Greens have snagged the Dunedin mayoralty – their first proper mayoralty win, even if other mayors have been associated with the party.
Labour’s Lianne Dalziel remains the mayor in Christchurch, meaning there will continue to be two members of Helen Clark’s cabinet in power in two of our biggest cities. But notably both Dalziel and Goff did not run ‘‘Labour’’ campaigns.
The person who did that was Justin Lester, once Labour’s overlearn