Yay it's election year

When I woke up on the 1st of Jan one of the first thoughts that went through my brain was "election year - yes!" I must admit, I am a complete geek when it comes to elections, I love them! Hell of a lot of work but it's one of those rare times where people don't scowl at you as much when you try and get them to think about the state of this mess we're in and what they think should be done about it. NRT has started a conversation about which party (or parties) will end up supporting Labour (cause let's face it National aint gonna win, and if they do, I'm leaving the country to seek political asylum) after the next election. I think Labour has more incentive to swing left than last time. They have certainly learnt some lessons from their hostility to the Greens during the whole Corngate thing. There is a large number of LP members who are quite pissed (still) that Labour is getting confidence and supply support from UF. And ironically, the Government got more support on legislation last year from the Greens than UF. There are a lot of people out there who realise know how much the swing to the conservative right in the last election has affected the Government stand on certain key issues and want to see the left vote stronger next time. In terms of party vote, I doubt Labour is going to lose much support between now and the next election so for those who want to make a real impact, it's the minority party votes that count. The Maori Party will get in on electorate votes but whether they can be considered left or not depends heavily on the policy platform they put out. I suggest they would be wise (although highly deceptive) to not put out too much policy and just let people assume... Winston will inevitably shine again this year as the great campaigner that he is. Although I think their voters may be starting to wonder what happens when Winston leaves... I doubt they will get the same support they did last time. And I would put money on the fact that Helen will not sign any agreements with NZ First. She knows Winston too well. And so does Cullen. I'm guessing the electorate seats will keep Anderton and Dunne around for another three years. At current polling, I doubt they'll bring too mnay more MPs in with them, but you never know. And here's hoping the Greens pick up their vote again. There is the global Green curse of 7-9% to contend with but I reckon they'll go up and bring in another couple of MPs. It would be nice to see Catherine Delahunty finally make it into Parliament. That'd give the boys a shake up. If you haven't enrolled, do so now and don't forget to vote. Cause if you don't vote, you're giving your power to some knee jerk. And we all know what happens when you don't educate yourself about what's going on! Anyway, bring it on I say!