The rise and fall of Act and New Zealand First

Politics lecturer Bryce Edwards has an interesting series on articles on the history of the populist New Zealand First Party and the right-liberal Act Party at his left-leaning Liberation blog.

One of his interesting observations about the history of the two parties is how professionalised Act was compared with the more amateurish New Zealand First Party.

I wonder if New Zealand First would have fared any better if it had had Act's level of funding and organisation, or whether both parties are too right-wing ( in their respective ways) for post Lange/Douglas New Zealand.