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German election campaigns in full swing

A few days after the only TV debate between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his conservative challenger Angela Merkel in the run-up to September 18 elections, the verdict was almost unanimous. The media-savvy chancellor had, as expected, won the exchange, according to flash polls. But Germans elect parties, not the main candidates. And for three months, those poll numbers have shown Mr. Schroeder`s Social Democratic Party (SPD) a good 10 points behind Ms. Merkel`s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - pointing to a growing likelihood that the former East German physicist will end the chancellor`s seven-year rule. In a campaign that has taken cues from US-style spin and image-shaping, a Merkel win would bring a shift to the right that promises better communication with the US, a critical voice in the pledge to include Turkey in the European Union, and - most important - a more aggressive approach to Germany`s greatest problem: the economy. Seven years since Mr. Schroeder made his promise to bring down unemployment to less than 3 million, the country`s jobless number more than 4.7 million. The economic situation, and the political defeats it has caused his party in several state elections over the past year, is what prompted Schroeder in May to call for elections one year early.