[ad_1]
CAMPAIGN JOURNAL: There are 10 days left and National Leader Judith Collins is spending her time talking about whether she will resign after the election, whether her MPs are leaking against her and about blatantly organized interactions with supporters in the campaign queue.
It’s a potentially damning narrative, one that changed under Collins’ feet Wednesday morning after a forced campaign through the posh Ponsonby business district, with Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellow and MP Melissa Lee in tow.
Collins started the day by saying she was “revitalized” after The press Leaders debate and are eager to leave the division headlines behind.
But with few major new policies or new party lines to speak of, attention quickly turned to National’s problems.
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
Judith Collins, during a walk with MP Melissa Lee and Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellow in Ponsonby.
READ MORE:
* Election 2020: Judith Collins ‘energized’ doesn’t want distractions from her agitated MPs
* Election 2020: Judith Collins denies fractures in caucus after scathing internal email leaked
* Choice 2020: the winners and the losers when it comes to billboards
* Election 2020: Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins will meet in the second leaders debate
Political campaign stops are fabricated events, to varying degrees.
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern walked through Lyttelton on Tuesday, and a conveniently located musician sang about people’s struggles in bread line.
NZ First leader Winston Peters called a press conference in front of a police station on Wednesday about his promise to recruit 1,000 more police officers. He said it was an appropriate place.
But Collins’s walk through Ponsonby was extremely cheesy.
National supporters were poised and ready, waiting every few doors on the sidewalk for Collins to come by and speak trivially.
One person waiting on the street was Hamish Price, a national operative involved in Mellow’s campaign. Some went on to join the politicians for coffee on the go.
Mellow bought some pink peonies from a florist, who said business hadn’t gone “bad at all,” which doesn’t create a moment for a national to show that business is on the ropes.
One company denied Collins and the media pack entry. There were two interactions, possibly unprepared, with die-hard fans.
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
The media group follows national leader Judith Collins through Ponsonby on Wednesday.
Collins, speaking to the media at the end of the tour, attributed the lack of enthusiasm he received, beyond the planned interactions, to a quiet weekday in Ponsonby’s main shopping area.
“That tells me there is a real problem, and that problem is the fact that, you know, companies are closed, people are just not out of place … In fact, I think that shows the slowdown in the economy. “.
Collins said National supporters were proud to support the party: “I meet genuine supporters every day, and I think all of those people are genuine supporters.”
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
One of the few unexpected meeting and greeting moments during a tour of Ponsonby on Wednesday.
“I think what really focuses on what all of our fans are focused on, which is an economy that is collapsing. I’m happy to talk about tax cuts and I’m happy to talk about growing the economy. “
Unfortunately for Collins, not all of his MPs have focused on tax cuts to the economy.
Two days after a leaked email revealed MP Denise Lee’s frustration with Collins’ political decisions, and more murmurs of derision within the caucus spread to the public, the national leader stood on a Ponsonby street rejecting questions. on whether he would survive in the leadership post-election.
RICKY WILSON / Stuff
National Party leader Judith Collins has campaign coffee with MP Melissa Lee and candidate Emma Mellow.
Compare this to Ardern’s reception in Dunedin on Wednesday morning.
The party was announcing a climate change policy with the main promise of decarbonizing the public transport fleet by 2035.
There was a crowd of 1,500 there for the demonstration, eager to attack the Labor leader.
Reporters asked Ardern if the Labor Party ever put supporters on walks. He said that was not how the party campaigned.
“Every now and then, I’ll go say hi to someone and find out they’re a Labor supporter … I’ve never had a time when I’ve met someone and pretended not to.
Peters, standing in front of the police station, said that all the other political parties placed their supporters in the election campaign, but NZ First did not.
“It’s a lot of people, and you’re falling in love,” he said, vowing to hire 1,000 new police officers while standing outside an Auckland police station.
