Mt Albert result a solid start

A textbook, low-risk, well organised, hugely-resourced Labour campaign in Mt Albert came to its inevitable conclusion on Saturday night with a big win for David Shearer, pulling a massive majority and 62% of the vote in a reasonable by-election turnout to become the fourth Member of Parliament for Mt Albert.

I'm very pleased with this win. Did turnout doorknocking in Pt Chev on Saturday, and the response - when people were home (Auckland's nicest day in a while, was Saturday) - was really good. Given the demographics of the parts I was doorknocking in, that was a good sign.

As the first electoral test since the 08 general election which we lost, the by-election is a major fillip to Labour suppoters' morale. More important, it was a good training ground for many people, especially Young Labour activists, who joined the party last year and were hungry for more campaigns experience. They learned a lot and did a great deal of good work. 

Phil Goff also did very well - his energetic on the ground campaigning went down very well with the party organisation in and around the seat. Phil is a genuinely talented campaigner: he's direct and easy to talk with, and has stacks of energy which he applies in an up-beat way. This result is a vindication for him as well as for David Shearer, who performed very well as a candidate and is going to be a great addition to the Labour caucus.

What Labour showed is that when you campaign on relevant issues and have good candidates you can win elections. When you listen to the public's concerns, engage with them thoroughly, and take the feedback you get on board, people vote for you. Not remarkable but always reassuring.

The close of the campaign along with the close of the Worth affair hopefully means we can now get back to serious politics. Last month's deeply damaging Budget; the stupidity of the way the Super City is being imposed... all these things need a tighter focus from the media and the public. Labour's job is to try and restore that sharper prioritisation of the things that should matter most to the future of the country.

Mt Albert's result is a solid start. Now, let's get to it.

Comments

[john mashall.7.Scott.t.Cambridge.]

Well weve seen what a lot of two faced slimy lot these Tories are.
Right wing commentators like Duncan Garner are wriggling with embarasment.Only a couple of weeks ago the were predicting that the Nats could and very likely will win at Mount Albert . It was great fun to watch them trying to explain the result.
However putting that aside the disgracefull way Key has acted is something we in Labour need to broadcast . What an eye opener. To just dump his own selection is disgracfull. Then his washing of the hands over the Worth situation is unbelievable . This man Key is a very cold fish and the truth has been shown that he is not the nice kind man Textor/Crosby has sold him as. He's the smilling assasin we all thought he was. This is the first step, back to making sure this Tory rabble is a one term one.

[GNZ]

National threw the race. The majority of your victory is due to Mt Albert being more or less unwinnable for National (I dont know what Duncan Garner must have been smoking - probably the lets try to make this a story weed) and National following a strategy of "try to keep the by election out of the media" as opposed to trying to win.

National was of course following the right strategy there. As much as one might like him to turn up at all the mt albert union meetings and to back every man accused of sexual crimes it isnt likely.

Still Shearer did a good job (although that is probably easier against weak opposition) and you are right it makes for a good training ground and a morale booster.

[GNZ]

There remains an issue here however and that is that Goff and Ms Choudary seem to have accused Worth of corruption. That really should be properly investigated.

[Clint Heine]

Most normal thinking political junkies knew this was in the bag from day one - by saying that I heard there were a lot of Labour supporters in Mt Albert for the campaign.

My thoughts on this are, why? If this was a dead given, why bring up activists from Wellington and Dunedin? What were Labour worried about? Were there some dodgy polling going on? Not the same ones that said Tizard would win AC were they? Jordan, at the time I wish I put a wager on that with you :)