The Banks campaign was not helped at all by John Banks. He was never quite firing right from the beginning, but I think he had an "Anderton moment" with that boy drinking himself to death on his doorstep. The meltdown at his surprise appearance at the inquest a few days before polling closed was a strange and desperate last fling at meshing the populist with the parent.
There were other odds and sods too, titbits such as Banks only going to the movies three times in his life. Small joys that the masses take for granted, communal enjoyment which this robot just couldn't compute. Tens of thousands of hours Banksy has given us with his received wisdom over the years, nay, decades of talkback, etc. He has not managed to spend any time at all immersed in someone else's story for 90 scant minutes. Banks was also linked to the big bailout of My Fair Lady not so long ago, a stage production of epic failure proportions. His finger on the pulse of the city plank was all shot to hell.
Auckland also gave the C&R ticket a good caning too, with only five getting a seat on the Council. The North Shore has forsaken its brush with change after the Williams fling and has returned George Wood as their Councillor. Wood was probably doing C&R a favour, same as 90s throwback Christine (Chris) Fletcher who also got in. But the Born to Rule aristocracy got a serious telling off, especially by the Smart Young Things; Brewer, Swney, etc.
Of course, there were some races which were utter stitch-ups:
