PM and Key prepare for debate

ONE NEWS: National needs to seize the initiative in the election campaign and John Key gets his chance on Tuesday night when he goes head to head with Prime Minister Helen Clark in the first leaders debate.

Labour scooped the headlines on Sunday and Monday, first with the announcement of a bank deposit guarantee scheme and then a universal student allowance.

Those events left National complaining about not being briefed in advance and questioning how the Government was going to pay for its policies.

It badly needs a big hit, and a scheduled maternity care announcement this morning isn't going to cut it.

Key needs to come out of Tuesday's ONE News YouTube debate at least even with Clark, and that won't be easy for the relatively inexperienced politician.

The debate will be hosted by Mark Sainsbury and will screen on TV ONE at 7pm, as well stream live on onenews.co.nz.

Both leaders have a light schedule today so they can prepare for the showdown, and Key won't want to take second place the way Don Brash did before the 2005 election.

That was considered to have had a significant impact on the campaign and Labour went on to a narrow victory.

But Clark can't keep wheeling out popular policies, and she said yesterday the international financial crisis and the economy was going to drive the campaign from here on.

"It's giving people pause for thought about who they trust to run the country," she said.

"That's going to be the fundamental issue...in a time of crisis, who has the judgment, skills and experience to take New Zealand forward and it's not the time for novices."

That was a jab at Key's time in Parliament - he has been an MP since 2002 while she has 18 years on the benches and nine of them as prime minister.

As the campaign moves into day three, these events have dominated it:

Sunday:

Clark uses her campaign launch to announce the bank deposit guarantee scheme. National says it supports the move but it should have been briefed in advance;

Key released 11 pledges to voters and paraded his economic credentials as he assured voters New Zealand would be in safe hands during a crisis.

Monday:

Clark announced a Labour government would phase in a universal student allowance by 2012. That was praised by student unions and is a bid by Labour to snap up their votes;

National announced it would put $47 million a year into boosting literacy and numeracy in schools. Key said it was part of an education crusade which includes previously-announced policies like national standards, getting tough on truancy and improving special education services;

National's deputy leader, Bill English, accused Clark of trying to spend her way to victory and said she would have to come clean on how much Labour's policies were going to cost.

Key was briefed by Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard on the bank deposit guarantee scheme. He said that should have happened before it was announced, and blamed the Government for taking advantage of the situation.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen dismissed that and Clark said Key had been sleeping on the job and should have known it was going to happen.