This crazy election campaign

15:58, Sep 18 2014
Is this when the craziness began? Nicky Hager just before he dropped his Dirty Politics bombshell on the election campaign.
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Is this when the craziness began? Nicky Hager just before he dropped his Dirty Politics bombshell on the election campaign.
Eminem is angry and he's not having, it National Party ... stop using his song. John Key? Doing his best "Look, I'm not worried about it" face. No word on mom's spaghetti though.
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Eminem is angry and he's not having, it National Party ... stop using his song. John Key? Doing his best "Look, I'm not worried about it" face. No word on mom's spaghetti though.
Pam Corkery in mid-rant at the unsuspecting TV reporters who apparently asked the wrong question. "Why you little....."
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Pam Corkery in mid-rant at the unsuspecting TV reporters who apparently asked the wrong question. "Why you little....."
Putting a brave face on it, Judith Collins announces to a hastily arranged media conference that she was quitting. To "clear her name".
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Putting a brave face on it, Judith Collins announces to a hastily arranged media conference that she was quitting. To "clear her name".
John Key schools David Cunliffe over capital gains tax.
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John Key schools David Cunliffe over capital gains tax.
Laila Harre and Hone Harawira looking like a team. Obviously before they started discussing that whole marijuana issue.
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Laila Harre and Hone Harawira looking like a team. Obviously before they started discussing that whole marijuana issue.

And the hits just keep on coming. The election campaign trail has been littered with "what the?" moments, with more likely before voting closes on Saturday night. Here's a few high(low)lights.

Dirtier-than-usual politics.
Author Nicky Hager's latest bestseller exposed a murky web between figures on the right including minister Judith Collins, National Party worker Jason Ede, blogger WhaleOil and lobbyist Jordan Williams. The perpetrators shrugged their shoulders, the accusers were outraged. Who was really that surprised, though?

This one's about trusts.
At The Press debate, Prime Minister John Key showed Labour leader David Cunliffe was unable to explain his own capital gains tax. Would it apply to homes owned by trusts? It didn't, but Key still made Cunliffe look unpreprared.

Feed, not weed.
In which the Internet-Mana network suffered connectivity problems. Internet leader Laila Harre wanted big policies on marijuana, while Mana's Hone Harawira wanted to feed the kids. In the end, Hone was too fed up to sit by and sent an expletive-laden email to Mana activists expressing his fury.

Vomit on his sweater.
National lost itself in the moment when it chose its campaign tune. The backing track sounded a lot like Eminem's Lose Yourself, and the rapper's lawyers agreed, suing National for the cheap knock-off.

Crushed.
Well actually, in the end, John Key really was on the cusp of sacking Judith Collins. Crusher was on her last, last, last, final warning when given the flick over an email from her mate WhaleOil suggesting she had been involved in an orchestrated hit on Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley.

A place to call home.
Labour tried to appeal to working families dreaming of home ownership when it announced its housing policy. Unfortunately it was unable to find a poster couple for the launch who actually wanted to buy.

Keeping it in the family.
ACT leader Jamie Whyte made the headlines when he stuck to his libertarian guns and suggested he had no real issues with consensual incest between adults.

The moment of ... what were we here for again?
Cackling internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom's big reveal was set to prove John Key had lied about his knowledge of the raid on KDC. But Dotcom never delivered. His star-studded lineup gave much food for thought over mass surveillance, but seriously Kim, that laugh? Do you want to become more of a caricature Bond villain?

You puffed up little...
Pam Corkery was always going to have a tough gig as the Internet Party's press secretary as she tried to keep the focus off Kim Dotcom and on Laila Harre. Pam accidentally made herself the story as she called a reporter "a puffed up little shit".

Smacking saves them from what???
Conservative candidate Edward Saafi made headlines when he told South Auckland churchgoers there was a scientific link between the anti-smacking law and youth suicide and prostitution. Even worse, Saafi earns a crust as a biomedical researcher. Wonder if he got this theory peer reviewed ...