Cloppenburg: Church, children and the CDU

Locals say that "the CDU could run a bucket as a candidate in Cloppenburg and win." This wealthy farming community, which prides itself on having "the most children in Germany," (although its fertility rate is still lower than the national averages for the US or the UK) has given the Christian Democrats more than 50 percent of its votes since the 1950s.

Silvia Breher is Cloppenburg's CDU candidate following the retirement of her predecessor Franz-Josef Holzenkamp. Breher avoided answering DW's questions about how Chancellor Merkel has brought the party towards the center with her refugee policy and by opening the door to same-sex marriage. "We stand for family values," she insisted.

Cloppenburgers of all ages gathered to eat wurst, drink beer and welcome their chancellor. Although the town applauded heartily and cheered Merkel on, the mellow tone of the rally mirrored the mood across Germany ahead of federal elections on September 24.

Merkel's remarks to the crowd highlighted "family values," creating better digital infrastructure, and building schools. While the talk mostly came across as a canned stump speech, she did congratulate Cloppenburg on being the most "child-rich" city in Germany - a common point of pride around here.

Local left-wing SPD members acknowledged that they have an uphill battle in Cloppenburg. "It's a tough fight," one member of the party's youth wing Jusos told DW, "but someone here has to talk about her hypocrisy."

Paul Schockemöhle is a former champion showjumper and something of a titan of industry in Vechta, the town next to Cloppenburg. CDU Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is also a friendly aquaintance of his. Schockemöhle told DW that in a town where things life is so good and unemployment is so low, he didn't see Vechta voting for anyone but the CDU any time soon.

Vechta's SPD candidate Kristian Kater (left), knows his chances of winning are slim. Here, the Social Democrats chalk the CDU's long-term success under Merkel partially to co-opting some of their own positions, such as on immigration and gay marriage.