Kevin Rudd's blitz of western Sydney electorates began before dawn at the Flemington markets, where he strolled through the fresh produce section accosted both by admirers and wholesalers shouting abuse.
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''Get out of our lives, Kevin,'' one man bellowed rather mournfully. ''Leave us alone!''
Cost of living pressures were front of mind for most of the workers Mr Rudd spoke with, but his minders made sure that, for one day at least, one man's cost of living pressures were eased.
Mr Rudd stopped at one stall, owned by Mohammed El-Badar, where he thrust $40 into the embarrassed stallholder's hand to buy a box of oranges, apples and kiwi fruit.
''No mate, that's too much,'' Mr El-Badar protested. ''You want to give me a tip? That's the first tip I've had in my life.'' But he had a tip to offer Mr Rudd, who by this time was laden with a box full of glossy fruit.
''Are you sure to carry that, mate?'' Mr El-Badar asked. ''I don't think you've carried anything that heavy in your life!''
Mr Rudd laughed off the suggestion of a silver spoon upbringing. ''I've done a bit,'' he assured the wholesaler. ''You know what my first job was? Packing fruit and veg in the local store. So, mate, I've done a fair bit of this carrying.''
Given how day 19 of Mr Rudd's campaign started, it's no wonder he's become used to carrying a load. He woke to Galaxy polling showing Labor was set to lose the western Sydney seats of Lindsay, Werriwa, Reid, Banks and Greenway, but went on with his pre-arranged tour of five electorates before lunchtime.
From the markets in John Murphy's seat of Reid, Mr Rudd headed off to Julie Owens' electorate of Parramatta, where he spent almost an hour at the Abu Hussein mixed business.
From there it was a trip to a cafe in the marginal seat of Greenway, held by Labor's Michelle Rowland by 0.9 per cent, but under serious threat by the Liberals' gaffe-prone Jaymes Diaz.
After a coffee, and smiling through abuse hurled from heckler Gerard Quin, Mr Rudd headed to Penrith's Westfield shopping centre for a press conference and a chance to press the flesh with ''real people'' (as Mr Rudd likes to describe western Sydney voters).
''Today I'm out-blitzing the various seats of Sydney,'' Mr Rudd announced, rather unnecessarily.
Walking through the centre, he was mobbed by people thrusting their phones towards him for selfies.
He posed for them all.
Politicians rarely do these events - dubbed ''walk throughs'' - in election campaigns because they are so unpredictable. And so, for everyone wanting a selfie with Kevin 07, there was another shouting ''F--- off, Kevin'' from the upper floor of the centre.
Mr Rudd thought he was on safer ground at one of his favourite campaign stops, a school, in this case Bede Polding College, in the marginal Liberal-held seat of Macquarie, later on Friday.
Unfortunately, Mr Rudd ended up talking to students in front of photos of Mussolini and Hitler with a swastika.
It was the sort of photo opportunity that parties are supposed to do everything to avoid.
Only 15 days to go.
