Analysis: Today's political drama hits different for Labour because it's of their own making.
It also hits different when we are only four months out from an election.
As the prime minister pulled on his gumboots in Gisborne he knew he'd be asked about Michael Wood and Jan Tinetti, rather than the flood response effort.
Labour is trying to get out in front and prove it can do a third term. These sagas are politically damaging because every day off-message is a bad day and there's only 128 left.
At the moment parties are talking about "winning the week". This is not Labour's week.
Wood seemed emotional today and visibly pained to be sitting through question after question in the debating chamber.
And you can see why. He's known as being thorough and prides himself on juggling a heavy work load.
He takes everything seriously and would be at the bottom of the list of suspects when it comes to a botch up. But 12 times, he or his office were reminded to sell his shares in Auckland Airport and it took until today to actually do it.
What's more concerning is that his political radar didn't kick in, and he didn't see this big boulder of drama coming down the hill. For a political player that's something to be concerned about.
It also raises questions about arrogance and entitlement, and that's not the message Labour wants to be sending in the lead up to the election. I'd also be concerned about the prime minister's hardening language around giving him his job back.
This story has dominated for three days now and it's a question of how long the prime minister will wear this distraction.
New developments each day have kept the story in the limelight.
For a small amount of money it's caused a huge amount of damage for a Cabinet minister.
And Tinetti fronted up to Parliament's court today. In a rare occurrence in the political world, she gave evidence.
It was was so rare that political sightseers came to watch from the public gallery (I don't rule out doing this in my retirement — it wasn't a bad show). It seems like she didn't listen to her staff when they suggested she go and correct the record.
If she'd gone straight back into the house on February 22 it would have been a story, no doubt… but this has dragged on and on.
The general public may not pick up on every little detail, but it gives the perception of chaos and drama and that's not good for a wanna-be-third-term government.
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