Brash nervous, Clark optimistic

Helen Clark and Don Brash

Helen Clark is "very optimistic" about the election but dislikes using the word confident. Don Brash says the race is so close he's taking nothing for granted.

The pair spent most of their day yesterday preparing for the TVNZ leaders' debate last night - but chose quite different venues to try to pick up any available votes.

Dr Brash held a "public meeting" at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, but it was attended by about 100 people who were apparently all National Party supporters and there were no questions.

They didn't seem to have any left to ask - they knew their man, they loved him and they could already see him sitting in the country's top job.

"We are just 48 hours away from D-day," he told them, "48 hours away from deciding who will govern this country for the next three years. It's a very critical choice for all New Zealanders."

It would determine whether this was the place "where our children and grandchildren want to be or whether we will continue to see an exodus ... across the Tasman and to other countries abroad."

"Helen Clark said she wanted to make this election campaign about trust and integrity ... and I was delighted about that," he continued, going on to list the number of instances where she had lacked both.

That included the student loan costings, which the Ombudsman forced Labour to release on Wednesday that he called the "granddaddy of them all".

Afterwards Dr Brash said he wasn't taking anything for granted.

"The polls suggest in the last few days it could go either way ... we are working very hard right down to the wire."

He admitted to a little nervousness at the prospect of being Prime Minister.

"I think if someone facing the prospect of being Prime Minister for the first time isn't nervous, then they don't fully understand the importance of the job."

Helen Clark meanwhile went to the Auckland University campus with a bevy of Labour MPs and in contrast to previous campus visits in recent days she was loudly cheered.

The noisy, proudly pro-Labour crowd was sprinkled with Green and National supporters, all of them warmed up by a slick three-piece funk group.

The posters waving above the crowd ranged from "Three more years" to "We Love You Helen" and "Don't Wake Up with Brash".

There were hecklers and several unpleasant signs including one which said: "Either way there will be a man in charge".

Helen Clark focused on Labour's "inclusiveness" and its desire for the "rising tide to lift every boat".

"This election is about the future of the country we want to live in ... not what's in it for me," she said in a clear reference to tax cuts.

"I believe when that hand goes over the ballot paper people will be thinking, 'What's best for my country?"'

She emphasised the need for strong leadership and hammered Dr Brash on his lack of credibility, citing his actions at Te Wananga o Aotearoa this week as "the most disgraceful example of forked tongue behaviour I've seen in the whole campaign".

She said New Zealanders did not want a single party government and that had been the fundamental flaw in National's campaign.

Asked if she was confident of a win she said: "I've never used the word confidence because I think it's arrogant.

"I've always used the word optimistic."