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PASTOR GENERAL'S REOPRT, August 15, 1980
Page 14
Franz Josef the old pig, Franz Josef the lusting swine." Attempting to
slip out of the legal action, the band is said to have retorted that
Franz Josef was the name of their mascot, a cardboard pig, and that "any
similarity to a living swine is purely coincidental."
Polemics and charged rhetoric aside, the campaign, according to the poll
sters is still much in the encumbent's favor. In a survey conducted by
der Spiegel, the West German news magazine, 73% of those polled felt
Chancellor Schmidt would win. The same percentage of those polled, how
ever, did not feel that Schmidt's party, the Social Democrats (SPD),
would get an absolute majority of seats in the Bundestag, according to
West Germany's rather complex apportioning formula. Therefore, the SPD
needs continued support in the Bundestag from its current coalition
partner, the Free Democrats. The FOP was shocked when it failed to get
the necessary 5% of the vote in the state election in North Rhine-West
phalia in May. However, experts feel that this may also shock enough
voters into voting FOP on October 5 to make sure they clear the 5%
barrier.
Strauss' biggest problem seems to be his inability to win the hearts of
his own sister-party supporters, the Christian Democrats, many of whom
only grudgingly accepted him as their standard bearer.
(Strauss' own
party, the Christian Socialist Union--CSU--the Bavarian counterpart of
the national CDU which operates in the other nine West German states.)
If, in the closing weeks, Strauss can somehow win them back, he still
stands a chance.
It is often overlooked that the CDU-CSU candidate in
the 1976 elections--the lack-luster Helmut Kohn--came within 300,000
votes of gaining an absolute majority. So, much can still happen.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau