If laughs and applause are anything to go by, Andrew Little appears to be winning the race for the Labour leadership.

But then he was in his hometown of New Plymouth last night.

Around 90 people turned up to hear the four candidates.

Mr Little's quip about Taranaki's weather being turbulent from the time National was reelected, went down particularly well.

"And I'm not promising to turn that around straight away but I'm saying that snow on the mountain, at the beginning of November, has never happened under a Labour Government."