HOW TO BIFF A EUROPEAN ELECTION:

The professor under fire (Carter Dougherty, SEPTEMBER 14, 2005, International Herald Tribune )

With his lengthy digressions about the peculiarities of German tax law, Paul Kirchhof can sound a little professorial on the campaign trail, a quality now under heavy fire in a closely fought campaign for the federal elections Sunday. [...]

The saga of Kirchhof's entry into the campaign and the controversial position he now occupies reinforces the adage about just how much can change in a few weeks of intense politics.

To much applause from the media and experts last month, Angela Merkel, the conservative Christian Democrats' candidate to lead Germany, drafted Kirchhof to spearhead a reformist message and build a can-do image.

With 12 years as a judge on Germany's highest court behind him and now a professor in Heidelberg, Kirchhof burnished Merkel's campaign.

Now, with the election on Sunday appearing an ever-tighter race against the Social Democrats of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Kirchhof's appointment dogs Merkel at every step.

Questions about what Kirchhof represents - his own radical ideas or the conservative party's mellower stance in its program - have obscured the conservatives' message. Schröder's camp has found a powerful tool to attract the attention of voters - with a fifth of them still undecided. And Merkel is forced to defend Kirchhof because to drop him now would send a message of weakness.

She fell completely into the trap of proposing reform to a people who want none.

MORE:
Angela Merkel's Achilles Heel Charles Hawley, 9/13/05, Der Spiegel)

It was a perfect training program. Angela Merkel's seven years in the opposition -- time spent fighting off challengers within her own party to finally emerge as the Christian Democrat (CDU) candidate for chancellor in Sunday's general elections -- gave her plenty of time to put together her campaign recipe. A pinch -- but only a pinch -- of reform talk. A handful of job market fixes. A dash of tax-code modification. Bake until Sept. 18. Serves 82 million.

But apparently, the directions weren't clear enough. Instead of a campaign about the economic future of Germany, Merkel is now furiously back-pedaling on a man she handpicked for her campaign team in an attempt to add some tax expertise and economic gravitas. Merkel's dash of tax-code has turned into an uncontrolled dollop and the batter is now ruined. The dollop's name is Paul Kirchhof.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 14, 2005 9:03 AM