Challenger with Two Hats

Since Willy Brandt's Social Democrats won power two years ago, West Germany's Christian Democratic Union has been a party without a leader. Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 67, the defeated Chancellor, went into a deep sulk and was eventually talked into stepping down as party chairman. Franz Josef Strauss, 56, the burly, ultraconservative leader of the C.D.U.'s Bavarian wing, maneuvered on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Rainer Barzel, 47, took on the burden of leading the C.D.U. in the Bundestag.

Number One. Meeting last week at Saarbruecken, the party picked Barzel as its new chairman, making him the most likely nominee for Chancellor in the 1973 general elections. Challenging Barzel for the chairmanship was Helmut Kohl, 41, up-and-coming prime minister of Rhineland-Palatinate. Although a capable administrator, the reform-minded Kohl presented his case in a nebulous, unconvincing manner. Moreover, some Christian Democrats objected to the fact that Kohl ran for chairman in tandem with Gerhard Schroeder, who wanted to be the C.D.U. nominee for Chancellor. Schroeder, 61, held cabinet posts under three C.D.U. Chancellors and leads Barzel in popularity polls, but the party dislikes him because of his aloofness.

Barzel, who made it clear that he wanted both the chairmanship and the nomination for Chancellor, told the delegates: "Number One can only be one of us." By a thumping 344-to-174 vote, he emerged as chairman, and he will almost certainly wind up wearing both hats when the party nominates its Chancellor candidate before the end of the year.

The son of a teacher, Barzel joined a Catholic youth organization instead of the Hitler Youth, became a navy reconnaissance pilot during World War II and earned a doctorate in law from the University of Cologne in 1949. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1957 from a strongly Catholic district and achieved the cabinet post of Minister for All-German Affairs in 1962. Married, and the father of one daughter, he has been known as a flashy man about Bonn who drives fast cars, collects modern art, maintains a year-round suntan and keeps trim with daily swims. No longer quite so cocky as he used to be, Barzel is still extremely self-confident, but he knows that he must change his image to win the popular support that he now lacks.

The Social Democrats are not unhappy about Barzel's victory. An Allensbach Institute opinion poll in July gave Schroeder 41% of the vote against 43% for Brandt; Barzel got only 34% v. 50% for the Chancellor. But there are those who believe that Barzel can be sold to the public, much as Richard Nixon was in 1968.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.