Reality returns for Labour candidate

By Graham Skellern
Sally Barrett went back to school yesterday - and straight into marking senior exams.
An English teacher at Tauranga Girls' College, she also got her Year 13 students to review themes in William Shakespeare's Othello.
There was no break for Mrs Barrett, a mother of two, who came out of a gruelling election campaign and held up the Labour party vote in Tauranga.
She took six weeks' leave without pay from her job to champion Labour's policies and she said getting back to work was a bit strange.
"It's a big change from doing your own thing out there. Meeting a wide range of people was quite a privilege," Mrs Barrett said.
"You realise you can do all sorts of things and use your teaching experience in areas such as speaking, organising, working with people and putting your ideas across."
In May, Mrs Barrett was the last Labour candidate selected after Margaret Wilson withdrew from the Tauranga race when she became Speaker of the House.
Mrs Barrett sprang into action with "an honest, straight-forward and upright" campaign that provided a positive alternative to the heavyweight opponents, Bob Clarkson (National) and Winston Peters (NZ First).
She believed it was a great achievement to maintain the Labour party vote at 30 per cent in Tauranga, given the nationwide swing to National.
"We did very well, being up against two high-profile candidates. We are in good heart and we still have a good platform to work from."
Labour was the highest polling party in Tauranga in 2002 with 10,608 votes or 32 per cent, and on Saturday collected 9859 votes or 29 per cent. The swing gave National 15,012 votes or 45 per cent, after gaining 7250 or 22 per cent in 2002.
The loser was New Zealand First, falling from 7278 votes - or 22 per cent - three years ago to 4481, or 13 per cent.
On election night, Mrs Barrett finished third in the electorate race, with 3604 votes compared with Mr Clarkson's 13,699 and Mr Peters' 13,131. Mrs Barrett beat former United Future list MP Larry Baldock, who collected 1175 votes.
She said there was more strategic voting in Tauranga on Saturday. Some Labour supporters voted for Mr Clarkson to get Mr Peters out and in some cases it was the other way around.
"I know one Labour supporter - a schoolteacher - who didn't want Clarkson and voted Peters because he wouldn't bring back bulk funding for schools. In the end the (Tauranga) voting showed Mr Peters was past his use-by date and it was time to get him out," she said.
Mrs Barrett said it was disappointing the last week of the campaign turned in to muck-raking.
"I said to Winston it had become a nasty campaign but he didn't really answer me. I think it showed both of them (Clarkson and Peters) in a bad light - it also showed what some people will do to get where they want."
Mrs Barrett said she would always be involved with the Labour Party but was uncertain whether she would stand as a candidate again.
"I'll have to see. I had a lot of pleasant encounters with people and it was exhilarating - it almost becomes addictive. But I'm pretty tired at the moment."