German Election Campaign Heads East

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's opposition to the Iraq war helped him the general election in 2002. So the standoff over Iran's nuclear program -- and President Bush saying all options were still on the table -- was not going to be allowed to slip by.

"Together, we Europeans must support the negotiating process that we have begun," the chancellor told a crowd of 8,000 in Dresden on Monday. "Together we must ensure, even though it may be difficult that this conflict is resolved peacefully. Military options, don't work. We have already experienced that and do not wish to experience it again."

No differences on Iran

But the opposition Christian Democrats appeared unwilling to make Iran an election issue. Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrat candidate for chancellor, told Tuesday's edition of an eastern German newspaper, the Sächsische Zeitung, that there was no difference between her party's position on Iran and that of the government.

For the start of her campaign in eastern Germany, Merkel, a pastor's daughter, choose the medieval town of Wittenberg, made famous by Martin Luther and the Reformation.

If there was any symbolism in the choice of Wittenberg as a venue it was lost on the hecklers, who received a none-to-subtle dig from Angela Merkel about German unification and free speech.

"I am happy that these days one can say what one wants without ending up behind bars," she said.

She received the most applause for what she had to say about Turkey's desire to join the EU and immigration. Every child in Germany, she said, should be able to speak German before it started school. There was no place in Germany for those who preached hatred, and one could not expect the European Union to accept Turkey as a full member.

Unemployment the main issue

She also touched on the chronic problem successive German governments have failed resolve: stubbornly high unemployment.

"Unemployment is far too high everywhere in Germany, but it is particular high in the new federal states, in the east," she said.

The jobless rate in eastern Germany stands at 18.5 percent and is one reason for the popularity of the newly-founded Left Party. Formed out of the old reform Communist PDS in the east and a new grouping of disgruntled Social Democrats and trade unionists in the West, it could poll 9 percent nationwide on Sept. 18, according to recent surveys.

Its two lead parliamentary candidates are the popular maverick ex-Social Democrat Oskar Lafontaine and the former PDS Berlin senator Gregor Gysi. In the east, the Left party could poll 23 percent.

Stoiber-Lafontaine duel

But Angela Merkel does not only have to be wary of her political opponents. She must watch out for her allies as well. Edmond Stoiber is leader of the Bavarian CSU, the small sister party to Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. Just days before her appearance in Wittenberg, Stoiber infuriated East Germans last week by insinuating they were less intelligent than West Germans.

He then suggested a cut-and-thrust debate with Lafontaine, but what many commentators took as an invitation to verbal fisticuffs on television will now probably turn into a sedate, written exchange of views in the columns of a newspaper.