The importance of the elderly vote to the chances of New Zealand First returning to Parliament after the election has become vital to leader Winston Peters.
Mr Peters has told Prime Minister Helen Clark to stop stealing his party's "thunder" over benefits for senior citizens that took effect on Wednesday.
Miss Clark has stood behind her stood-down Foreign Affairs Minister while inquiries into donations made to him and his party continue - rejecting calls from opposition parties to sack him.
But Mr Peters was not holding back this week when he said Miss Clark and her colleagues were riding around in trains and buses claiming credit for free off-peak travel which NZ First insisted on as part of its SuperGold card deal.
"While we are delighted to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of senior citizens, we are not so pleased to have the Labour Party trying to grab the glory."
Miss Clark has been speaking at Grey Power meetings around the country, even as late as last week flying from Wellington to Nelson and back in a day to address the elderly.
In a statement on Wednesday, Miss Clark seemed to claim credit for the fact that about 530,000 SuperGold card holders could access free off-peak travel on public transport in most regional councils around the country.
The card is available to superannuitants and was a key policy win for NZ First under the 2005 confidence and supply deal that allowed Labour to govern.
A spokesman for Miss Clark said the Government was proud of the card initiatives, which the Government had funded.
But Mr Peters is not beyond stealing some of Labour's thunder.
At the University of Otago last month, he told students NZ First would introduce a universal student allowance at a cost of $728 million a year.
A universal student allowance is likely to be a key part of Labour's student package to be released just before the election in what the party hopes will be a game-breaker.
Before the 2005 election, Finance Minister Michael Cullen released Labour's interest-free student loans policy which caused many students to vote Labour.
With National Party leader John Key ruling out any post-election deal with Mr Peters and his party, Labour and NZ First are tied together in the campaign.
However, that has not stopped the three-year truce between the parties ending as the campaign begins.
Traditionally, older voters have supported Mr Peters, but many superannuitants now have not been NZ First voters, as they were in their 50s, when he first formed the party.
Their voting support will be hotly contested by all parties.
