KEY POINTS:
There's a cutting kind of humour from voters in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate as they decide who to vote for.
With two of Maoridom's heavyweights competing for the MP's job - Labour's Parekura Horomia and broadcaster Derek Fox for the Maori Party - it could be one of the
tightest races in the country.
Tumanko Kururangi, from Tokomaru Bay, joked that female candidates would have made for superior competition.
"It's good to have two Ngatis in there, pity they're not women. Ngati Porou women are a bit more dominant. They've got the skills and the nuance to make things happen."
A Marae-DigiPoll survey conducted in June suggested Mr Fox was just in the lead, by 47.1 per cent to 45.6 per cent. The result was within the poll's margin of error.
The last time the pair faced off, in 1999, Mr Horomia won by a slim 695 votes.
Ikaroa-Rawhiti is a mammoth seat, hugging the North Island's coastline from Potaka near East Cape, down through Gisborne and Hawkes Bay through the Wairarapa, most of the Hutt Valley to Wainuiomata.
It takes in the significant iwi Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu, to which both men have links.
For four days up to October 3, the Herald travelled through the electorate, stopping and chatting to 65 people on the Maori roll. There was roughly equal support for both candidates, but just over half were undecided on either their party or their electorate vote.
Mr Kururangi, 23, a kohanga reo teacher, reflects the median age of Ikaroa-Rawhiti voters. Up along the coast the reasons for voting are personal, he says.
"I'm more likely to go with Derek Fox. He's whanau. I know a lot of people will think like that. Uncle Para - he's going to get there anyway [because of his list position].
On the Mahia Peninsula, where Mr Fox grew up, it's his accomplishments that cut more mustard with business owners such as Diana Symes. She admires his longevity in the media, from TVNZ to Mana magazine, as well as his time as Wairoa District Mayor.
In Hastings, ta moko artist PJ Coombs, 38, also supports the broadcaster - despite Mr Fox's revelations in July of violence against women.
"People don't forget his service to Maoridom. My feeling is that Maori understand that everyone's got skeletons. They're forgiving about sins of the past."
However, what makes things interesting is the way strategic voting could maximise representation, he said.
"I think it's good having more Maori representatives whether they do a good job or not. There's options now. You can have your heart vote and your head vote."
Of those who are backing Mr Horomia, the support is no less emphatic. While the Maori Affairs Minister has a reputation for nonsensical utterances, get him in front of a Maori audience, where he's comfortable, and people warm to him.
Financial manager Tirohia Bridger, 63, has watched him at events around the region.
"I like Parekura. He's a man of the people. He can relate, he can talk to them like he's one of them."
A Gisborne-based journalist, who asked not to be named, said the former shearer and bureaucrat would be tough to unseat, given his popularity.
"People think there is a lot of confidence for Derek, but I would be very surprised if he beat Parekura. Everyone I speak to, they're going to give their vote to him.
"He's approachable, he's an advocate for employment. He goes to their 21st, their tangi, everything. At the end of the day that stuff matters."
