GERMANY: Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) leader Angela Merkel is holding her nerve and her silence in the face of a series of swipes by her Bavarian rival on the right, Edmund Stoiber, that could derail her chances of becoming chancellor.
Dr Merkel swept into the eastern city of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther started the Reformation, but was visibly ill at ease during her walkabout in the town.
The Wittenbergers are Ossis (former easterners) like her, but the CDU leader is walking an electoral tightrope. She hopes to spread enough gloom to oust chancellor Gerhard Schröder next month but enough hope so she can turn things around. The CDU-led coalition is well ahead of the government in the polls, but it is likely that Mr Stoiber, the Bavarian state premier, has cost the party some poll points after blaming the new Länder in the east for everything from his failed attempt to unseat Mr Schröder in 2002 to Germany's all-round economic malaise.
Dr Merkel refuses to comment on Mr Stoiber, flashing a tight, humourless smile when his name is mentioned, and speaks only of the need to see "the whole German picture".
But CDU insiders shake their heads or shrug their shoulders when the Bavarian leader is mentioned. Some call his comments "not very smart"; one even talks of "psychological problems".
"Best just to let him run himself out. What else is there to do?" said one CDU insider, invoking memories of the clashes between Helmut Kohl and his long-time Bavarian rival Franz-Josef Strauss. Mr Stoiber, like Mr Strauss before him, heads the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), a sister party to the CDU with its own party whip.
Mr Stoiber's most bitter attack was on the influence of "frustrated" eastern voters on election results and their attraction to the new left-wing grouping of the reformed communists, traditionally strong in eastern states, and a Social Democrat left-wing splinter group.
His attack has turned the new Left Party - until recently a headache for Mr Schröder - into a problem also for the CDU, and Dr Merkel. "I know people thinking of voting for the [ Left Party] are disappointed," said Dr Merkel to a crowd of 2,000 in the pretty old town square. "But you have to think: do I want to protest or to get involved in something that could make a change?"
Her speech addressed the 15 years of broken promises that have made voter apathy as much a feature of eastern states as 20 per cent unemployment, twice the national average.
"The east has made unbelievable progress in the last 15 years, and that has to be said more often. The new Länder can be proud of what they have achieved," she said.
The CDU's central campaign argument is that the economic and welfare reforms of Mr Schröder haven't made a dent in mass unemployment.
"The SPD is divided and such a divided party is not capable of governing but needs to rest on the opposition benches and decide what it wants," she said to cheers from the crowd.
Dr Merkel's get-well medicine combines less debt-financed spending with lower non-wage costs, financed by a VAT increase.
Her party favours less bureaucracy and a dramatic loosening of labour laws as well as guidelines to allow greater research and investment in controversial areas such as gene technology. The crowd in Wittenberg is most interested in the CDU's plans to rebalance the social welfare system.The CDU hopes to win family votes by promising parents greater tax-free allowances and lower pension contributions.
The party's opposition to Turkey's EU ambitions is known but is unlikely to feature large in the debate, say party insiders. Still, it doesn't go unmentioned in a Merkel election speech.
"People want to know where Europe's borders lie. A full membership for Turkey is not manageable for the EU. We need a bit of honesty in this respect," she said in Wittenberg to loud applause.
"There is an honesty about her. You see a real desire to bring Germany forward, and that's what counts," said Erma Hauerstein (80), one of the many elderly faces in the crowd.
"It won't be as easy for the CDU to win. Things are getting critical now, particularly with Mr Stoiber's remarks," said Hannelore Drenkelfort (61).
"Things have improved here since the CDU took over the state government. I just hope the rest of the country realises that," said Silvia Steiner (41).