OPINION: Rudd struggles to connect with "twice shy" People's Forum while Abbott plays it safe Prime Minister Kevin Rudd keeps an eye on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at the second People's Forum, this time at Rooty Hill in Sydney's west. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: News Limited KEVIN Rudd came up against a very different crowd in the second People's Forum in western Sydney. There was a grudging politeness but the mood was very much "once bitten, twice shy." From the outset, the Prime Minister was feeling around to find a way to connect. Tony Abbott looked more at home, from things like addressing people asking questions by their first name to referencing infrastructure and services with relevance to locals. Rudd's inability to address questions with any directness was on show early. He sought refuge in two ways - to say bad things happened because his government was busy tackling the global financial crisis or to wonder why the Opposition leader was persisting with his paid parental leave scheme. One question about the trio of left-field Rudd plans - a special economic zone for the Northern Territory, a fast train from Melbourne to Brisbane and the navy relocation plan - was met with a ramble about the Snowy Mountains scheme and the NBN. Towards the end, a question about foreign purchases of Australian land was answered with a landslide of cliches. and gobbledigook. Overall, the questions weren't hostile but they went to the negative sentiment towards Labor - after six years in Canberra and even longer in state government. Debt, spending, dental care, Labor's revolving door leadership and everyday economic management had Rudd on the ropes. A consequence of the stickier wicket the PM was playing on was he didn't have room to take the fight up directly to Abbott, preferring to slip in interjections which probably lost him points with the audiences in the room and at home. The one opportunity to question each other - thrown up by an audience member - looked awkward and had none of the electricity felt at the Broncos Leagues Club. Rudd's biggest problem at Rooty Hill was that the audience was there to listen but didn't want to connect, itself a bad sign for Labor and its leader 10 days out from a poll. Abbott didn't get much connection either but his ability to deliver key lines and themes, those passages highlighted in the focus group reports, meant his arguments were simpler and had clarity. By the end of the showdown at Rooty Hill, Rudd performed closer to his first below par effort in Canberra and well short of his sharp and engaging outing in Red Hill. Abbott won the debate by not aiming too high, striking most of the right notes and looking like a safe pair of hands. It's the same formula he's using to stay ahead in the whole election.