When Kevin Rudd came to Adelaide a few weeks ago, residents could have been forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu.

The Opposition Leader had only recently completed a trip to the city in August; as he also did in mid July, and again, in late May. In fact, Mr Rudd says he’s been to Adelaide seven times since becoming Labor leader in December last year.

But it’s not just Rudd making frequent trips down south. Prime Minister John Howard has also been popping in and out of the city on regular occasions all year.

This isn’t as unusual as it initially seems. Adelaide could decide the federal election as it holds five of the nation’s most marginal seats. Four of these seats require a swing of less than 0.1per cent to change hands. Indeed, one seat – Hindmarsh – has the honour of being Australia’s most marginal requiring a swing of only 108 votes.

It makes the adage “every vote counts” resonate with dizzying effect.

Traditionally, South Australia is considered a Liberal Party stronghold. The state encompasses 11 lower house seats – eight of which are currently in Liberal hands. Liberal heavyweights Alexander Downer, Nick Minchin, and Christopher Pyne all hail from SA.

But it’s a domination that could end in November.

While SA has voted for the Coalition in every federal election since the collapse of the State Bank in 1993, current polls suggest a very different story. Newspoll has the ALP leading the two party preferred polling 55 to 45.

If these polls are replicated on election day, Labor would not only win the three marginal seats currently in Liberal hands, but the seats of Boothby and Sturt which have margins of 5.4 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively.

It’s an exciting prospect for Labor and subsequently it has taken the unusual step of establishing a second national campaign headquarters in Adelaide. Kevin Rudd has also pledged several big spending polices for the state, including a $10 billion boost to SA’s defence manufacturing industry.

Not to be outdone, John Howard has also been throwing money at SA. In particular, he’s flagged a $1 billion investment in SA roads, including an upgrade of the Southern Expressway – which just happens to run through a marginal seat.

It’s a lot of money for a small city but it represents the importance of Adelaide to both parties.

However, not everything is going as smoothly for Labor as the polls might suggest.

The suburban Adelaide seat of Boothby is giving Labor strategists severe headaches and already looks well and truly lost to the ALP. Labor’s candidate is Nicole Cornes, a newspaper columnist and wife of former Adelaide Crows coach Graeme Cornes. Cornes’ position is dire; recent polls suggest Liberal incumbent Andrew Southcott will retain the seat in a landslide. This is largely a result of Cornes’ propensity for embarrassing gaffes, including the bizarre admission to a stunned press gallery that she had voted John Howard in the past.

Labor will be hoping its woes in Boothby do not replicate across the state. On the whole they should have little to worry about – the party is expected to perform well.

Of course, winning Adelaide still does not guarantee a Labor government; they will also need to poll well in Queensland. But SA remains an essential for election day victory and both Labor and the Coalition know it.

And while the political insiders fret over the polls, it will be those Adelaidians in key marginal seats that stand to be the beneficiaries of the tight competition. Residents will see large amounts of money thrown their way in the next six weeks and are likely to come across Rudd and Howard in Adelaide shopping centres, hospitals and pools, looking for their votes.

The city of churches, wine and roses may soon need to add pork and political leaders to its long list of attractions.

Nick Parkin, 23, will be 'tracking' Kevin Rudd in the second last week of the campaign and reporting to electiontracker.net. He is a postgraduate journalism student at RMIT.

Edited by Thomas Arup

Photo: Natalie