The election fight in Germany

[nosarcasm]

The conservative led by Angela Merkel , an East German phd physicist
against the social democrat Gerhard Schroeder.

Today, Sunday was their long anticipated TV duell.

Going in the Social democrats had a slight rise in poll number up
to 29%
The conservative are at 41%

The Green party in alliance with the Social democrats are at 9%
The FDP possible alliance partner with the Conservatives are at 8%
The leftist Links (left) party is at around 8%

According to polls after their discussion mostly about taxes
and the welfare system favored Schroeder.

46% favored schroeder, 27% Merkel.

The social democrats hope this will gain them additional percentage.

On a personal note, I quizzed my parents, my dad a conservative and
my mom a centrist on their perception. Both favored Schroeder in the
debate.

What does that mean for the US.

The CDU and FDP still have the majority for a conservative government
takeover. The FDP is declining so is the CDU. If it continues a great
coaltion led by the conservatives would take over.

So it looks for now like Schroeder is done and the conservative
will take over.

For a complete change in direction the conservatives would need about
47-48% It is close now with the left gaining ground.

In the worst case this means a great coalition between the social
democrats of Schroeder and the conservatives, under the leadership
of the conservatives.

If there is no major catostophe or Al Queda attack get used
to the first female chancellor.

 

[nosarcasm]

on an interesting note on the tv discussion.

The conservative challenger Angela Merkel closed the discussion
with words that were quite similar to Ronald reagans final words
in his duell with Carter.

"Liebe Wählerinnen und Wähler, in zwei Wochen werden Sie Ihre Entscheidung über die Wahl fällen. Vielleicht hilft Ihnen die Beantwortung einiger Fragen bei Ihrer Entscheidung: Geht es unserem Land heute besser als vor sieben Jahren, als Rot-Grün antrat? Ist das Wachstum höher? Ist die Arbeitslosigkeit niedriger? Haben wir weniger Bürokratie? Sind unsere Rente, Pflege und Gesundheit sicherer?"

Dear voters, in two weeks you have to decide who to elect. Perhaps it will help with your descision if you answer these questions. Is our country better off then 7 years ago when red-green came to power.
Is the growthrate highter? Is the unemployment lower? Do we have less
beauraucracy? Are our pensions, healthcare and health more secure?

Wenn Sie alle diese Fragen mit Ja beantworten, dann haben Sie Ihre Wahlentscheidung wahrscheinlich gefällt. Aber wenn Sie Zweifel haben, wenn Sie nicht wollen, dass es einfach so weitergeht, dann haben Sie die Wahl mit CDU und CSU."

When you answer all these questions with yes, probably you already made
your descision. But when you have doubts, if you dont want it to continue
like this, then you have the choice with the CDU/CSU (conservatives).

Familiar?