Although Labor was widely expected to win several seats at the election, Hartley was expected to be a particularly close race, due to Scalzi's incumbency, personal support, and record of bucking wider electoral trends. The campaign in the seat was heavily presidential, with Premier Mike Rann strongly supporting Portolesi and doorknocking homes for her several times. Some local issues were raised, however, mostly in the form of policing and the fate of Lochiel Park, which had been threatened with development. Early polls placed Scalzi as the favourite, but Portolesi slowly narrowed the gap, and was leading the polls by January 2006. She seemed to suffer a major setback when polls in the week before the election returned to predicting a win for Scalzi. However, Portolesi achieved a 5.9 percent two-party swing to finish with a 4.6 percent margin.