ELECTION SPECIAL - Shipley and National - Shipley and Anderton - Minor Parties - Clark and Labour - OTHER NEWS - Floods - Plane Crash

INTRO: Will a week be long enough for Jenny Shipley to win the election, or for Labour to trip up. Sarah Hall and Jane Young have been tailing the leaders in Auckland today.

SHIPLEY: Jane Young Live: PM out there shaking hands and she is good at it. People warm to her and want to be photographed with her. Q: Nats seem intent on slagging will that be enough? A: The ads take a negative attitude but Jenny Shipley is more subtle. She was pulling back from what she was doing last week today - saying to voters that they have a real choice. I think National may have learnt a hard lesson in Thames about being nasty. Do the Nats have a chance? It is going to be an uphill battle. However her - the PMs - voice is showing the strain and that may prove a problem. They are campaigning on their record but it does not seem to be getting through - this may be inevitable with a nine-year record in government. It is hard to get traction.

SHIPLEY AND ANDERTON: Jenny and Jim Anderton run into each on the street. Shipley, "it would be a brave punter who would pick a result". But National is not panicing she says nor are the adverts scare adverts. Jim Anderton says that the PM cannot stand on her record because it hasn't been good enough Yet that is what she is standing on apparently on the streets today. - Jane Young

MINOR PARTIES: Greens sticking to their bread and butter issue - GM Foods. Wellington Green candidate Sue Kedgley now stands a chance of getting elected with the Greens on the rise talks food. The Alliance meanwhile has moved back to an old stamping ground Auckland infrastructure. Ken Douglas however is urging both votes to be given to Labour and cautions on tariffs and the "reality" of the modern world. NZ First meanwhile is talking about meat and ACT is in Christchurch in person and Auckland on IMAX. In Christchurch Prebble is talking a "positive change". Minor parties may hold the key to this election. - Steven Parker

CLARK: Sarah Hall Live: The Labour camp is very bouyant and wants not to trip up in the final week.

CLARK: Greens meet up with Helen Clark at a transport forum in Auckland. Nandoor arriving by bicycle. Helen Clark also visits a bulk-funded school and says that bulk-funding has been divisive. Helen Clark continuing risk-free campaigning in her local mall. Clark says people are confused about MMP and that the importance of the party vote will be a main theme this week.

CLARK Sarah Hall Live: She is not taking any risks. Talking to teachers in her local electorate. However one thing you can say is that the tactic is working.

FLOODS: Floods still causing problems in Queenstown with the lake high and more rain forecast.

PLANE CRASH: Helicopters, boats and planes search for missing plane in sea near Amberly. No wreckage found. Two Japanese men - the pilots and Christchurch residents - are missing. Aeroclub is saddened by news.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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