This will put the PM off her cornflakes
Labour Party president Mike Williams must have been tired and emotional or greatly deluded to believe he was finally on the track of a "neutron bomb" which would blast National leader John Key's election campaign into smithereens.
The upshot of Williams' lunatic attempt to try and link Key with the notorious 1988 H-fee scam - when no such evidence has been uncovered - is that Labour is now (rightfully) scrambling to fight off accusations that it is more interested in launching smears against its opponents than fighting a fair election at a time of extreme international financial turbulence.
The Prime Minister's pathetic attempt to distance herself from Williams' ham-fisted behaviour lasted a mere 24 hours before she was forced to confirm the Labour Party paid for what she initially described as his "private mission".
So what does this mean?
Just as in 1984, 1990 and 1999, there will be a surge of energy as Kiwis get excited over the new Government's plans. Key will have vast resources at his command and plenty of minders to keep him on track.
No one will care about the ins and outs of a 20-year-old scam when more pressing problems like this country's financial future are at stake.
Clark will be securing her next job offshore. Williams will be preparing to resign from his five plum state directorships. Winston Peters will be a (thankfully) distant memory.
Unless of course Clark - the ultimate pragmatist - tells Labour supporters in Tauranga to give their electorate vote to Peters and scraps together enough post-election allies to get her over the line. Your choice.
