Who's the scapegoat going to be?

Remember that old picture over there? (Thanks to Whale Oil, I might add.)

I think we all know spin when we see it, and I think we're all clear that Labour has been spinning like a washing machine with a broken bearing for the last two months -- the polls alone have shown that much.

But as poll follows poll and More Spin has led to Extra Spin and then to Super Spin -- and still the polls indicate that none of it is working -- it's clear that the election spending issue just can't be laundered this way. Voters aren't buying it, and the parties needed to pass legislation legalising it are quietly looking to their own laundry.

So we're getting close to the Hang Out To Dry part of the cycle for Labour, aren't we, and who do you think will be awarded that honour? Someone has to pay, don't they. Someone has to go for this issue to be cauterised.

Who's the one, do you think? Who do you think is going to take the rap for the failure of the spin and the decision to fund the election campaign dishonestly? Could it be Pete Hodgson? He's been the "strategist" of the failed spin. Or Heather Simpson? She it seems was the one who signed off the spending. Or could it be H1, Helen Clark herself, the one who called the pledge cards the centre-piece of their campaign, only to deny later that spending on the cards was campaign spending? Are the knives being sharpened for her? Is there a reason so few cabinet ministers have opened their mouths on this one to defend their leader? Has Phil Goff been hosting barbecues again while Helen goes skiing "somewhere in the South Island"?

Care to make the call yourself? Who do you think will be the one who's going to be hung out to dry? Make it quick, the spin cycle's almost up.

NB: Read Audrey Young's summary in this morning's Herald to see an accurate state-of-play report, and see just how few ways out there are for Labour.

RELATED: Politics-NZ, Politics-Labour, Darnton V Clark