The Maori Party's candidate for the seat of Te Tai Hauauru likes outcomes he can measure and says the party has plenty.
Chris McKenzie was in Wanganui yesterday in his role as senior adviser to party co-leader Tariana Turia. She had several meetings in the city and he was there to "carry her bags, answer questions, write down issues people raise and follow up on them".
Mrs Turia's war on smoking was his top example of how effective the party has been. He said it wasn't popular with Maori people but smoking has dropped from the first to the second most common reason for death in New Zealand. It has also dropped 25 per cent for Maori women.
"We have not seen those sorts of results from anyone, ever."
He can also point to numbers of laws passed, funding given to causes, treaty settlements completed and Maori seats in Parliament retained.
"Who would have thought that we would have softened the hard right wing edge of National? And if we get in with Labour we will be able to temper their paternalistic tendencies, where they believe the state must provide for everybody. We will make them believe that the community can do that."
He wants a strong presence for the Maori Party in government because it was "the first-ever effective voice for Maori in government that's solely Maori", and because of what it can achieve and what it can stop.
On the policy front, he would favour jobs for regions such as Wanganui. He said provincial towns suffered when people moved to cities to get work.
His tribe, Ngati Raukawa, has recently bought a forestry management company and dairy interests that will keep workers in the regions.
His other top interest is education, and he said lifting Maori achievement would lift the whole country. The key would be making Maori feel comfortable at school and involving families.
The proof that it worked was in results from wharekura (Maori language secondary schools).
"Wharekura outstrip every mainstream school. They're 8 to 10 per cent higher, on worse resources, and that's partly because parents are engaged in the learning."
Education has been a big part of Mr McKenzie's life. He was brought up in Tokoroa, trained as a teacher and taught in Auckland and Tokoroa.
He moved into Maori politics when he became an education manager, then Treaty claims manager, then lead negotiator, then chairman of Ngati Raukawa. The iwi got its Treaty settlements from 2007-10 and he resigned his role as chairman just as the money came in.
He needed a break so went to Wellington to work for the Maori Party as a volunteer. Then he got the job of senior adviser to Mrs Turia. He's also since completed a Master's degree in Business Administration.
He was one of six contenders to be Te Tai Hauauru's candidate, and voted for his cousin "who I thought would do the best job" rather than himself.
Now that he has the role he has a huge electorate to campaign in, from Tokoroa in the north to Tawa in the south. He's well known in Tokoroa, and in Tawa where he lives with his teacher wife. The middle of the electorate is more of a problem.
He's planning to campaign hard in Porirua and Taranaki, but not so much in Wanganui, although he said Labour candidate Adrian Rurawhe was a real rival.
"I'm hoping Tariana's support in Wanganui will help carry us through."