Taiwan's local election campaigns have entered their final sprint, with Democratic Progressive Party candidates boosting one another by drawing on the halo of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai's record in office — a positive signal for the green camp's electoral prospects.

• Chen Chi-mai released a new book summing up six years of city governance, with several DPP candidates for city and county chief attending in a show of support.
• New Taipei candidate Su Chiao-hui said she wants to learn from Kaohsiung's "hurry, hurry, hurry" pace of getting things done, declaring that "New Taipei will push even harder."
• This is a clear play by the green camp to make Kaohsiung's governance record the headline selling point of its national campaign.
• The opposing camp made its own move the same day, with the Kuomintang's Li Si-chuan and incumbent Mayor Hou Yu-ih completing their registrations together, a declaration that they are fighting side by side.
• New Taipei has become one of the most closely watched battlegrounds in the blue-green contest.

Outlook: Su Chiao-hui's campaign headquarters is set to open shortly, and the New Taipei race is formally entering its final, close-quarters phase.