Noisily Down to the Wire

If the rest of Western Europe could have voted in West Germany's election, the pollsters might have predicted a handsome majority for Social Democratic Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The fact that his nation had weathered a worldwide recession far better than most major industrial powers would alone have assured an outpouring of admiration at the ballot boxes in almost any other country. But West Germans, drawn by the homespun conservative appeal of Christian Democratic Challenger Helmut Kohl, refused to let Schmidt rest comfortably on his record. Trying to keep pace with Kohl, 46, in an unexpectedly tight race, Schmidt crisscrossed the country in search of votes, logging 16,120 miles and delivering 80 speeches in six weeks. As the campaign wound up at week's end, Schmidt, 57, looking pale and haggard, publicly claimed confidence. Privately, though, he conceded that the race against Kohl was too close to call.

Traded Invectives. The Schmidt-Kohl campaign was one of the hardest fought political battles in West Germany's postwar history, and what Kohl called an "Olympics of insult" went right down to the wire. Continuing his sniping against Kohl's political ally Franz Josef Strauss, boss of the Christian Social Union and Kohl's declared choice as Vice Chancellor, Schmidt scourged the bully Bavarian conservative as a "political arsonist." Strauss returned the fire by lambasting Schmidt as "a politician with a predator's grin," and Kohl hooted that Schmidt had "lost control 50 of himself." In a final campaign bout last week, Schmidt and Kohl traded invectives during a four-hour television debate which consisted largely of mudslinging. "Your actions cannot be those of a normal being," growled Kohl. "What you're saying is total, shameless falsehood, which doesn't surprise me," fumed Schmidt.

Despite the vitriol, the candidates had few disagreements of substance. Indeed, whichever Helmut won, it seemed there would be no fundamental change in West Germany's domestic or foreign policy. Both promised to lower unemployment (current jobless rate: 3.9%), raise pensions, maintain but not significantly expand other social services, crack down on terrorists, pursue detente with East Germany on more of a quid pro quo basis, continue close ties with the U.S., and lobby in other West European capitals for a stronger NATO. Their only substantive difference was over the issue of corporate-tax cuts, which Kohl favored and Schmidt dismissed as "unrealistic and impossible."

With the candidates' platforms so similar, the election seemed to turn on matters of personal style. To offset Schmidt's palpable aura of authority, efficiency and intellect, Kohl cultivated a folksy, old-fashioned image. Implying that it was time to leave postwar apologetics behind, Kohl encouraged his audiences to take pride again in the traditional German virtues of "cleanliness, punctuality, dependability, savings and hard work." He talked of "the fatherland" and occasionally led campaign rallies in singing the West German national anthem, Deutschlandlied. Said Kohl: "We don't want nationalism, but we're entitled to a normal feeling of national pride."

That appeal--and the repeated charge that the S.D.P. was "soft on Communism"--went over well among middle-class voters. They feel threatened by the young leftists who have taken over the Social Democrats' party machinery in a few major cities. Although Schmidt embodies the old virtues as well as anyone, he had to bear the banner for a party that acquired a largely undeserved left-leaning reputation under former Chancellor Willy Brandt. Since West German voters elect their Chancellor by voting for a party, rather than directly for an individual candidate, that bogus image may have cost Schmidt the easy victory he was entitled to by standards of achievement.

As they awaited the results, both candidates faced one certainty. Whoever won would have a formidable opposition leader to contend with. Indeed, with the likelihood of a reduced margin of seats in the Bundestag dividing winner and loser, it seemed possible that neither Kohl nor Schmidt would be able to stay in power for a full four-year term.

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