Chris Bowen was a treasurer who never delivered a budget and spent six years working on an economic plan he didn't get to implement.
He was acting Labor leader for a month in 2013, while Anthony Albanese and Bill Shorten fought for the role.
Now as shadow treasurer he's running against the man they call "Albo", who he concedes is the favourite to win.
"The Labor Party went in on Saturday as favourite, too, I'm a bit over favourites. It doesn't always work out so well," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr Bowen was outside the one-storey fibro house in Smithfield, in Sydney's southwest. Sheets were hung over the windows.
"This is the house I grew up in," Mr Bowen said.
His father was a shift worker with the NRMA, he said, and worked Sundays, most Christmases and every Easter.
His mother was a childcare worker, and looked after kids inside the house, including fostering disabled children.
"They raised my brother and I here. This is an important part of who I am," Mr Bowen said.
Wearing jeans and no tie with his button-down shirt and blazer, he pointed to his deep working class roots.
"I can connect with suburban and regional Australia. I come from the suburbs, from here," Mr Bowen said.
"My wife and I are raising two wonderful kids down the road from here, in Smithfield, the same suburb I grew up in," he said.
Mr Bowen believes he can lead the economic debate, which is crucial to Labor winning government.
"I've got some things right and some things wrong over my years, I've been in parliament 15 years, I'm not perfect. But I've learnt as I've gone," he said.
"I think I can take the party to a good position on economic growth and creating jobs. We cannot leave jobs and growth to the other side."
About two of those 15 years were spent as immigration minister under Julia Gillard, where Mr Bowen saw a stream of asylum-seeker boats and the reopening of offshore detention centres.
That experience helped harden Mr Bowen and other Labor MPs to match the coalition's boat turnback policies.
Not long afterwards he became treasurer when Kevin Rudd returned, spending three months managing the nation's wallet before the 2013 election.
Mr Bowen never got to unveil a full budget, but he spent six years developing the economic strategy Labor took to the 2019 election.
Connecting the economic message with the needs and aspirations of voters in cities, outer suburbs and regional towns will be crucial if Mr Bowen is to gain the leadership and take Labor to victory.
