Bradford hurting

Even though all the pundits had long been picking a victory for Turei, the co-leader election result seems to have hit Sue Bradford hard. Both TV channels highlighted her absence yesterday from the Conference, and today she twittered:

Heading north to prepare for the week ahead, no shortage of work to be done but no question have lost a little heart & strength, for now

Even though politically Turei was always the more logical choice, you can understand it would be hard to lose a leadership contest to someone in their 30s, whose involvement in serious politics has been less than a decade. Two decades ago Bradford was the New Labour Party President and in 2000 the NZ Herald awarded her “Backbencher of the Year” – two years before Turei even became an MP.

Bradford will no doubt continue on for this term of Parliament. It will be interesting to see if she stands again in 2011.