Evidently Hannelore Kraft and teh Social Democrats scored a decisive victory in today's state elections in North Rhine-Westfalia (NRW), whcih means that the governing Red-Green coalition will remain intact (the Pirates also did well with 8% of the vote).
The New York Times continues its good coverage of German politics with a profile of NRW minister Kraft and the importance of NRW in assessing the future direction of Germany:
It is difficult to overstate North Rhine-Westphalia’s importance in German politics. With a population of nearly 18 million, it is home to more than one out of every five Germans (California, by comparison, is less than one-eighth of the American population). Ms. Merkel has not forgotten that it was a stinging defeat here for the Social Democrats in 2005 that led to the unseating of her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, and her own ascension as leader of Germany.
Frau Kraft owes much of her success to her very effective campaigning skills:
Hildegard Ocklenburg, 59, who came out in Vingst to see Ms. Kraft speak, used the same word as numerous other voters when asked to describe her, “volksnah,” which translates as “down to earth,” but literally means “near the people.”
“She can talk to people in a very uncomplicated manner,” Ms. Ocklenburg said, “open and personable.”
On the campaign trail, this native daughter of Mülheim in the state’s industrial Ruhr Valley jokes, argues and commiserates with voters in the thick Ruhrpott dialect of the state’s mining and industrial region. She presents herself as “Hannelore from the Ruhr,” as Der Spiegel, the weekly newsmagazine, put it, still living in Mülheim with a pinball machine in her basement recreation room, but whose folksy accent vanishes during closed-door political negotiations.
Whether the NRW election results reflect a shift in politics that would make the Social Democrats once again relevant on the national stage remains to be seen. With the collapse of "Merkozy" it doeas appeat that Angela Merkel is increasingly isolated – in Europe, but also in Germany.
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Well written article!