ON THE day of Kevin Rudd's second coming, when he rose in Question Time after being sworn in again as Prime Minister, some MPs commented that it was as though his long exile had never happened. Same old swagger. Same old slightly clunky language. Same old hand gestures.

Even the same old issues: asylum seekers, climate change, pink batts. Rudd himself later joked to a friend that he felt like saying: "Where was I when I was rudely interrupted?"

You might think, then, that Tony Abbott would also be able to pick up where he left off. The Liberal leader seemed to have Rudd's measure three years ago, before Julia Gillard seized the Labor leadership. But now that Rudd has seized it back, Abbott is clearly unsure how to respond.

"Tony hasn't got his radar tuned in yet," says a former Coalition strategist.

Rudd carries plenty of baggage from his first term, but - despite claims that they were prepared for a Rudd comeback - the Liberals so far have been ineffective in trying to exploit it. An Opposition source texted: "I wouldn't say the Coalition are panicking, but there is acute anxiety."

Labor's big jump in the opinion polls might have been expected, but that does not make it any less alarming for Coalition politicians who, until Gillard's departure, were cruising to a massive victory.

Voters who stopped listening to Gillard are listening to Rudd and those who like what they hear will presumably stick with him.

The resurrected PM is busily redefining himself as someone who has learnt from his mistakes and will be wiser, more consultative and more respectful this time around.

He is redefining the Gillard government's achievements as his own, rebadging the Gonski school funding plan and reminding us the National Disability Insurance Scheme had its origin in his 2020 summit.

He is also working to redefine Abbott, not just as a purveyor of slogans rather than genuine policies, but as a political coward afraid his lack of substance will be exposed if he accepts a challenge to debate.

Accusing Kim Beazley of a shortfall in the ticker department worked for John Howard. Hence Rudd's line in a TV interview during the week: "So, Mr Abbott, I think it's time you demonstrated to the country that you had a bit of ticker on this."

It would not have worked for Gillard, but Rudd is getting some traction. His restoration has, in effect, given him a megaphone, and he is using it to push his own messages and drown out Abbott's.

Whether he is musing about gay marriage or holding meetings to repair Labor's relations with business or announcing federal executive intervention to clean up corruption in the NSW ALP branch, he dominates the media.

Concerned Liberals are already questioning why their party - flush with funds, after all - has not countered with an advertising campaign. And they mean a proper campaign in the mainstream media directed squarely at Rudd.

The pathetic el cheapo ad made primarily for YouTube and targeting a new minister for nothing more than stammering and stuttering on TV three years ago merely demonstrates the Coalition's lack of immediate answers to the threat Rudd poses.

Abbott, Liberals say, intends to "hold his nerve" in the belief that voters will contrast Coalition stability with recent Labor chaos. But the Liberal leader needs to do more than that.

The Queensland coroner's scathing findings on the deaths of three young men working on the rushed and bungled 2009 home insulation program showed how hard it is for Rudd to shake off past mistakes.

The recycled PM is vulnerable if the Coalition can get its act together. That is especially so because he is attempting a difficult balancing act.

GILLARD'S first major mistake after becoming Labor leader was to dash to an election before establishing herself as an incumbent PM. She did not even move into The Lodge.

As a result, the 2010 campaign in some ways resembled a contest between two opposition leaders.

Rudd does not plan to fall into the same trap. He wants to re-establish himself in the prime ministerial role, governing calmly and deliberately for a period, before he fires the election starting gun. And to emphasise the incumbency aspect, he will move back into The Lodge early next week.

At the same time, though, he has to campaign for all he's worth, partly because Labor starts so far behind and partly because campaigning is what he is best at.

The election, whenever it is held, is still Abbott's to lose. But Rudd's first week back in his old job, and the uncertainty it created in Coalition ranks, left no doubt that we now have a contest.

Laurie Oakes is political editor for the Nine Network. His column appears every Saturday in the Herald Sun