Jessica Mutch McKay: Election phoney war ends now

National's Christopher Luxon and Labour's Chris Hipkins

The election campaign has switched from park to drive and, with the battle of the Chrises looking tight, now more than ever the two main parties will be focused on selling their leader.

Labour and National now have 140 days, that's just 20-ish weeks or four-and-a-bit months, to showcase to New Zealanders why their Chris should be Prime Minister.

Chris versus Christopher. “Chippy” versus “CL”.

The boy from the Hutt who is a political animal versus the self-made former Air NZ boss.

That presidential-style campaign has seeped into New Zealand. And, even though the once highly popular Jacinda Ardern is no longer the Labour figurehead, current leader Chris Hipkins is still seen as the party's biggest asset.

Labour is centring its campaign and messaging around him. "The Chris Hipkins Labour Government budget" for example.

Time to decide

National says people are still getting to know Christopher Luxon - but that line won’t fly anymore. He’s auditioning to be prime minister so people are making up their minds right now.

The two main parties will be focused on protecting their leader from controversy, pumping them up in appearances and making sure they have the stamina to peak in October. That’s the focus.

The wannabe prime ministers need to be across the detail, be relaxed enough to be themselves in media appearances and be likeable. That whole “would you have a pint with them” style of politics is a thing. Do you like the way they represent New Zealand?

In election years the Budget marks a turning point for campaign mode to start to purr.

The social media memes are a-flutter on Twitter, the politicians are hungry for airtime and the poll numbers are being manically poured over. It’s beginning to feel a lot like… well, an election year.

Our 1 News post-Budget political poll will be released at 6pm today. We’ll see then just how tight that race now is.

Every day counts from here on in. Let’s turn the ignition and get going - the election campaign awaits.

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