Labour, meanwhile, appears hell-bent on creating a legacy of its own in the wake of their 24.7 per cent election result - letting National get a rare fourth term in 2017.
Even this early on there are those within Labour now talking about a six-year programme to take back the government benches, rather than three.
Labour did a review in response to the 2008 and 2011 defeats. It called it the organisational review. It organised and organised and now Labour has called another review.
Some MPs clearly hope that will be a disorganisational review and undo all that organising which gave Labour such things as the man ban and a new leadership election process that costs $80,000 a pop and puts power to choose a leader in the hands of mainly left-leaning party members and unionists.
Rumours of Labour's death are premature -- it took National two terms and two leaders to recover from the 2002 drubbing under Bill English. It might take Labour a term longer and a few more leaders.
But there is an increasing recognition that it needs to refocus back on the centre rather than continue to pander to the left. Labour lost far more votes to New Zealand First and National than to the Green Party or other left-wing parties. Voters didn't believe Labour's attempt to claim they were worse off and inequality was growing.
After Labour has worked through its labyrinth of rules and processes, the inevitable leadership contest will come down to a great battle between the left and centre. Various contenders are parading their tail feathers to assess their chances of being the next leader. It's a complex process. The first step is to not rule yourself out. Some also add "I'm not ruling myself in either" as insurance so they can back away gracefully once their soundings tell them they cannot win. David Parker performed that exact manoeuvre yesterday.
Those in the "not ruled out" gates currently consist of former leader David Shearer, newly returned Napier MP Stuart Nash and Grant Robertson, with David Cunliffe. The stable hands are struggling to get Andrew Little locked in. He has adopted the unusual technique of humbly hanging his head over failing to make a dent in his New Plymouth rival's majority. He declared that may mean he falls short of having the moral mandate to be leader.
This doesn't mean he has ruled himself out. He's simply fishing -- casting out a line to see whether there is any reaction.
Shearer and Nash are firm centrists who believe the party has fallen into the trap of getting hemmed in on the left.
Cunliffe, Robertson and Little are all further to the left. Little may well emerge as a viable alternative to Grant Robertson for the left within Labour -- picking up both alienated Cunliffe supporters and those concerned that Robertson might not get wider cut-through. Little also has the best chance of snaffling the union vote from Cunliffe.
Cunliffe hasn't helped himself since election night. He belatedly and somewhat cynically said he took responsibility for the election loss although the degree of responsibility appears to depend on his mood.
On Sunday night, responsibility was a complete stranger to him. On Tuesday it was full responsibility, but not enough to apologise because while he took responsibility it was not his fault.
He claimed he had done well in debates, had trounced John Key and campaigned well. He added he felt at ease looking in the mirror.
One thing he has done well since then is blowing his own trumpet. Unfortunately the only tune his colleagues hear coming out of it is the Last Post.
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