The Age's article, "Shock poll result for Kelly O'Dwyer. Is Higgins the 'Indi of 2016'?" revealed that a recent poll showed Ms O'Dwyer's primary vote had collapsed to just 44.1 per cent, potentially making her vulnerable to an assault by the Greens. Kelly O'Dwyer campaigning with Sophie Mirabella in Indi. Credit:Shana Morgan "Karma comes calling on yet another Liberal to have turned on Tony Abbott," Bolt blogged waspishly on Tuesday. Even closer to home, an email circulating among a younger set of Victorian Liberals, and which has been seen by Fairfax Media, bears the subject line "Sophie spent too much time in Melbourne. Maybe Kelly has spent too much time in Indi?" The email is accompanied by several pictures of Ms O'Dwyer electioneering with Sophie Mirabella, the only Liberal MP to have lost her seat at the 2013 election. Ms Mirabella is trying to regain her seat of Indi in north-east Victoria, but is given no more than an outside chance by many commentators.

Unlikely to be coincidental, new Twitter and Tumblr accounts have been launched under the titles of Kelly the New Sophie, accompanied by similar pictures. Greens candidate for Higgins Jason Ball is joined on the hustings by Greens MP for Melbourne Adam Bandt on Tuesday. Credit:Eddie Jim Meanwhile, Ms O'Dwyer has had to contend with multiple other more conventional political assaults. The Greens are piling campaign resources in to Higgins after they commissioned a Lonergan Research poll which showed Ms O'Dwyer's primary vote toppling more than 10 percentage points since the 2013 election and The Greens' Jason Ball rising from 16.8 per cent to 24.1 per cent, taking him ahead of Carl Katter from Labor. Greens leader Richard Di Natale in Higgins on Tuesday. Credit:Eddie Jim

Unsurprisingly, Greens leader Richard Di Natale chose to kick off pre-polling campaigning at the Malvern Town Hall in Higgins on Tuesday. The poll concludes that Ms O'Dwyer would still win 53-47 over The Greens on a two-party preferred basis. But such a result would still leave the Liberals seriously shaken. Things just aren't supposed to be this way in the genteel suburbs that comprise the electorate of Higgins. Blue ribbon Liberal was a term invented for a place like this. Why, it is the only electorate to have produced two prime ministers - Harold Holt and John Gorton - and it was home to the nation's longest-serving treasurer, Peter Costello.

But that hasn't dissuaded numerous other organisations from firing broadsides. The ACTU has funded a campaign involving robo-calls to thousands of Higgins voters designed to undermine Ms O'Dwyer over changes to superannuation. The automated phone calls urge voters to "put the Liberals last" at the federal election. For the past two months numerous households in Higgins have been hosting "community conversations" arranged by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre to "discuss how we could do things differently" to the government's hard line on refugees. "Your main role as host is to bring together people who live within the Higgins electorate who you think are interested in understanding more about the issues around people seeking asylum in our community," a circular declares benignly.

Hundreds of members of the youth organisation Oaktree are planning a "stake-out" of targeted electorates, including Higgins, during the week before the election, to call for increases to the foreign aid budget. "For three days, we will do hardcore campaigning in those areas – knocking on thousands of doors, organising creative actions and holding politicians to account," the organisers promise. For a federal election widely criticised for its lack of excitement, Kelly O'Dwyer might be forgiven for wishing for a less animated campaign. Follow us on Twitter