Jenny Shipley, mother of the nation, took on Helen Clark, roving TV interviewer, last night - and lost heavily.

National kicked off with a 15-minute ad which was surprisingly amateurish and patronising.

It opened with Mrs Shipley, resplendent in National royal blue on the hills of Devonport, gushing: "I'm so proud of our country."

The ad then assumed viewers would be highly impressed that a think tank of Harvard University academics, who don't actually live here, had awarded New Zealand the title "best government in the world."

It ran through key economic issues of inflation, interest rates, tax and industrial disputes, but failed to connect an overdose of figures with people's everyday lives. There were the expected shots of Mrs Shipley shaking hands with US President Bill Clinton at Apec, but then a bizarre boast about top overseas jobs for Don McKinnon and (former Labour MP) Mike Moore.

With the words "I'm a politician ... but I'm also a Mum," Mrs Shipley finally moved onto firmer ground as she ran through National's education, welfare and law and order policies.

In Labour's far more coherent reply, leader Helen Clark turned herself into a 60 Minutes interviewer, at the side of Kiwi battlers.

She talked to a medical student struggling to pay her loan, a middle-aged man waiting for a hip operation and a solo mum with three children unable to pay market rents in a state house.

There was a mother worried about crime, a businessman wanting help with exporting and a superannuitant who couldn't afford an ice cream when she went shopping.

Not surprisingly, all these people really wanted were the modest promises outlined on Labour's pledge cards.

The litany of woe did get a bit depressing by the end. But there was still no doubt who looked more in touch last night with ordinary New Zealanders.

By Andrew Laxon