Mike Hosking’s Mark of the 2023 Election Campaign

At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.

The campaign: 6/10

Because it’s a chance to vote and that should never be taken for granted. But man, it's been hard work in places.

Labour: 4/10

It was negative, it wasn’t fought on their record for very good reasons, Hipkins held his own but was pretty much shot from day one.

National: 6/10

A lot of noise, a lot of money and plenty of ideas and policy. Luxon proved by debate number one he was a genuine contender. They've been helped by the polls and the negative view of the Government but strategically blew it on Peters and the second election thought bubble. Tomorrow night will reveal how bad those errors are, or aren't.

The Greens: 7/10

Didn't get the spotlight because they are not a major party and most of the media still report campaigns with a First Past the Post mentality. But they made no dramatic errors, split the work well between leaders and benefited from a soft Labour vote.

ACT: 7/10

Probably the best of the campaigns if you count the whole year. Seymour has been disciplined and relentless, had good one-liners, endless press releases, all the policy ideas you could ever want and was quite entertaining with it. He's marked down if it turns out he peaked a bit soon.

The Maori Party: 3/10

Only because they have been invisible. I assume they are busy in the electorates, although if polling is accurate, they could be the disappointment story of the night and end up going nowhere.

New Zealand First: 8/10

They have partially stolen the show. If they end up in Government they completely stole the show. But, they have policy they can't price, promises they won't keep and a patter from 1995 that about 5% of people keep buying. As far as an effort goes, the return on input is potentially astonishing.

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