Labour is about to embark on yet another roadshow to select a leader, something which happened about a year ago with the selection of David Cunliffe ahead of Grant Robertson and Shane Jones.
Mr Jones was poached by National to head off into the Pacific to look after fisheries issues, leaving Messrs Cunliffe and Robertson to get on with the task of trying to win an election.
That task did not turn out well at all, with Labour's support on September 20 slumping to one of its worst performances ever.
Getting below 25% of the vote while National received more than 48% was a humiliation for the once-proud party.
Since the election, there have been several missteps by Labour, including by Mr Cunliffe whose concession speech on election night was more like a victory speech.
Behind the scenes, he was already lining up support to stay in the job, despite taking the party to defeat.
On paper, it will take Labour six years, perhaps more, before it can confidently look at leading the government.
And supporters are right to ask what went wrong.
But instead of waiting for the review of the campaign to be completed sometime in December, Labour is off on yet another talent quest with two of the previous contenders due to slug it out around the country, starting in Wellington on October 22.
If reports are anything to go by, Labour has fewer than 9000 members, not counting union affiliates who get a substantial say in the selection of a leader.
The caucus, which seems to have done its best to alienate Mr Cunliffe as viciously as possible, gets a say, as do the members.
Mr Cunliffe won the support of the members and the unions at the last election but until the specials are in later today, all bets are off about who the unions will support.
Former Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union secretary Andrew Little's future as a politician hangs by a thread.
He is in Parliament now, but any swing to National or the Greens in special votes will see him lose out, with the Greens most likely to pick up an extra MP.
The last leadership roadshow was said to have cost Labour $80,000 - money it does not have, that is clear.
More importantly, what are the Labour MPs doing in their day jobs?
Last year, there was a long campaign of leadership including a tour of the country.
This year, a long election campaign was conducted with MPs actively looking for votes to save their jobs.
And now there is another distracting leadership contest.
The MPs have their generous salaries and allowances paid for by taxpayers and yet these same taxpayers - of which less than 25% voted for Labour - are now financing another run around the country in a campaign due to start two days after Parliament resumes.
Even in Dunedin South, voters are not immune from the nastiness which has become Labour, with MP Clare Curran finding she is not getting things all her own way.
Labour's leadership will not be decided until November 18, with nearly a month of Parliament already passed.
Instead of focusing on their elected jobs, Messrs Robertson and Cunliffe, and their associates, will be touring the country in a self-centred and selfish campaign which seemingly has little to offer about 75% of voters.
Labour has installed former deputy leader David Parker as acting leader and long-serving MP Annette King as acting deputy.
Suddenly, the solution which could be Labour's is identified. Without any fuss, Mr Parker and Mrs King have assumed the qualities of statesmen and women, well above the name-calling from the leadership factions.
Mr Parker wants Labour to return to its more egalitarian roots rather than split off in factions which saw traditional supporters leave in droves.
The quota system was a disaster for Labour as it failed to bring anyone new into Parliament in the election.
Of course, despite his serene exterior, Mr Parker has been finance spokesman for Labour and with that comes the unpopular policies of a capital gains tax, increasing the age of superannuation eligibility to 67 and the complicated electricity centralisation policy which caused financial markets to react in horror.
Neverthless, wouldn't it have been a remarkable thing if Labour executives had realised a solution was right in front of them: leave Mr Parker and Mrs King in place as the party digested the result and allow those two to work out how to save Labour from self-destruction.
