Labour Party leader David Cunliffe. Photo / Brett Phibbs
It was at the same venue as the National Party's conference the week before, but the Labour Party "congress" came in a different colour, with a different policy, a different slogan and a different hashtag.
National promised asphalt and berms for the regions, Labour promised teachers and small classes.
National's
TeamKey hashtag for social media was pilloried by the left, but Labour didn't escape scot-free with its VotePositive slogan either. One person on Twitter observed it sounded like a pregnancy test while another moaned it was grammatically incorrect.
The key message was also different. National's message was that it could still lose. Labour's was that it could still win.
The other difference was that at Labour's conference the flock actually believed the message they were given. There was chanting, drumming and clapping as David Cunliffe took to the stage, where he kicked off with the words "It's election year and we are going to win". The effect was akin to Moses parting the Red Sea - they quite forgot there was a wee gap in the polls to overcome first.
