Pitches by the declared candidates to replace United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (or Spanky Banky in Rudd-speak) got under way on Wednesday at the UN's New York headquarters – just a short stroll from Kevin Rudd's Upper East Side brownstone.

But as Helen Clark (or Helen from Helengrad in Rudd-speak) et al made their cases to the General Assembly's 193 nations, our two-time former prime minister found reason to be further down the United States east coast.