Patrick Gower thinks National needs to appeal to centre voters to win votes and has jokingly suggested an old MP could take them there.
Gower, Newshub's national correspondent, spoke alongside former National MP Chester Borrows on The AM Show on Wednesday about the upcoming election.
Borrows said with the way things are going, he doesn't think National can take the win on Saturday.
"[Politics is] a really interesting spectator sport these days which is good but I don't think it is looking good for my old party. It's tough out there but it's also the cycle of politics."
He said National's tactic is currently about "saving the furniture".
Gower agreed "it looks over [for National]," saying Labour looked to be "cruising for a massive historic landslide".
He said the last thing Collins should be doing is making headlines for saying obesity wasn't her problem.
Collins was blasted as "disrespectful" on Tuesday for telling Kiwis to "take some personal responsibility" when it comes to their weight.
"We all have to own up to our little weaknesses," she said, adding people should "not blame systems for personal choices".
On Wednesday morning, the National leader doubled down on the comments on The AM Show.
"We all have to own up to our little weaknesses," she said, adding people should "not blame systems for personal choices".
On Wednesday morning, the National leader doubled down on the comments on The AM Show.
"If we keep making excuses and saying, 'Oh parents are too busy,' yes of course. It doesn't actually take much to get frozen vegetables out of the freezer and pull them out and do something with them. It's not that hard."
Gower said Collins "made a good fist" of the interview - "but she's only talking to a core kind of audience of National voters who think that obesity is about personal responsibility".
"Judith Collins is struggling, she can't control what she's saying, she's talking about all the wrong stuff. It's over."
Borrows said the campaign, which was impacted when the election was pushed back due to COVID-19, flattened off National's energy levels.
"You start making mistakes when you are tired."
Gower jokingly suggested the party should take a new approach, by ousting Collins in favour of Borrows.
"National needs a new leader and they need a new leader with some new ideas and someone who can drive them into the centre. Someone from a good region, you know a beautiful region," he said with a laugh.
Host Duncan Garner suggested All Black Beauden Barrett to take over the leadership.
"If it's not Beaden it has to be Chester," Gower replied.
Mark Richardson asked Gower why National needs to go to the centre.
"To win mate," Gower replied. "That's where all the votes are. Do you like losing? Because losing is... The National party losing is when they talk about obesity and say it's a personal responsibility. That's core centre-right voters. The way to win - I thought you liked winning - is to get Chester in there and go back to the centre."
Borrows agreed he thought Collin's obesity comments were "a bit shallow", and disagreed with them, saying he had struggled with weight issues himself.
"It's just oppositional because you know if Jacinda had made that comment, Judith would have stared down the camera and she would have welled up and talked about her own struggles with her weight and her Samoan family and all of this sort of stuff. It's just oppositional politics."
The New Zealand election is on Saturday.
