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Markus Söder was the chancellor candidate of the hearts, it was said from the CSU party headquarters after the CDU chairman Armin Lachet prevailed in a tough duel.
The base of the Union was invoked.
That made one sit up and take notice.
Wasn't there something?
Before Söder, wasn't Friedrich Merz, twice after narrowly losing races for the CDU chairmanship, the CDU head of the heart among Union supporters?
On Thursday evening, Maybrit Illner Merz confronted Merz in her panel discussion with the dilemma that the CDU had apparently chosen the wrong candidate most recently.
In addition to Merz, Cem Özdemir (The Greens) and Dorothee Bär (CSU) were in the Berlin studio.
For pandemic reasons, Claudia Kade and Markus Feldenkirchen were only involved in order to classify the events journalistically.
Merz wants to help in the election campaign
In the first twenty minutes of the show, Illner devoted himself exclusively to Merz, who initially attracted attention with his mild understatement.
At the moment he is simply the direct candidate for his constituency in the Sauerland and hopes to move into the Bundestag.
He did not allow himself to be carried away to malice and ridicule for his former opponent.
However, criticism fell between the lines and real election campaign euphoria couldn't or didn't want to spark Merz that evening.
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"We will have a completely different mood in Germany in the summer," said Merz, in view of the currently disastrous survey figures and the decline in membership for the CDU, although emphatically confident.
However, he initially did not give Laschet as the reason, but rather an easing of the corona pandemic.
He himself also wanted to contribute and promised to help with the CDU election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt.
“I want to say to those who are suffering from the situation and who are fighting with me, stay with the CDU, it will get better again.
We stick together, ”continues Merz.
Merz smiled with a hint of satisfaction that the CDU made mistakes in the election of its management staff because it did not decide in favor of the candidates from the heart.
"A problem with the heart," he laughed.
Söder the favorite
He praised Laschet dutifully and soberly.
NRW is a country well governed by Laschet and he has shown stamina in the fight with Söder.
He expressed criticism of the Union's tough struggle on the K question, which was also aimed at Laschet.
Would Merz have done better?
Yes, he believed.
"In the event of my choice, Söder and I had agreed to speak to each other immediately afterwards and make a quick decision."
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Merz's assessment of corona management did not necessarily sound like a recommendation for Laschet.
Although he praised the better incidence values in North Rhine-Westphalia, he certified Söder better communication: “Söder masters the performance better than Armin Laschet.
That is what people want in crisis situations more than someone who weighs up and admits to having made one or the other mistake. "
Bear quarrels with the CDU candidate for chancellor
Dorothee Bär cried much more after Markus Söder's missed chance to become chancellor.
As if the decision was still pending, she switched to campaign mode for her boss and literally rolled over with praise: "The calls for Markus Söder from the CDU and the population are incredibly loud," enthused Bär.
When Illner asked how she would now campaign for Armin Laschet in Bavaria, she did not stop quarreling with the result of the candidate question, which indirectly answered the question all the more clearly: “I have always spoken and do the best from my heart no killer pit.
I am firmly convinced that Markus Söder would have been an excellent Chancellor.
With him we would definitely have won the chancellorship.
Now it's getting more difficult. ”Anyone who can be seen on the election posters in Bavaria will be seen.
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Cem Özdemir basked in Annalena Baerbock's smooth nomination for Green Chancellor candidate and then wondered about Bär's own fire and tried to limit the damage for the Union: “Am I in the wrong film?
I don't have to coach her, but we're talking publicly here, ”he warned.
"The decision is made.
I support my team there.
You give me quotes here, so I don't have to prepare for the next talk show if I want to talk about Armin Laschet.
I just have to appeal to you. "
"Laschet often stood there like a duck"
The fact that, even after Laschet's election, the waves in the Union by no means seem to have smoothed out, was also reflected in the statements by Kade and Feldenkirchen.
“The CDU seems to have fallen into the trap.
A party chairman was elected according to a functionary logic and a candidate for chancellor was also elected according to this same logic ”, Kade summed up the party's unfortunate situation.
Feldenkirchen also attested to Söder's better performance: “I think Söder really wanted it.
He staged very well and insinuated that he had everything under control in the pandemic.
Laschet, on the other hand, was often there like a dod, ”he said, referring to an unscrupulous interview by Laschet with Markus Lanz.
Towards the end, Merz finally tried to turn the supposedly ticked off conflict within the Union into an election campaign maneuver against the Greens.
Merz confirmed a statement quoted by Illner that he had considerable doubts that Baerbock could be Chancellor.
"I share my doubts as to whether Annalena Baerbock, in view of her political experience, really fulfills this position with many people in this country," said Merz.
Feldenkirchen described the current attention to Baerbock as "hype" and reminded of the SPD candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz.
In the meantime, he had also been ahead of Merkel in surveys due to being different.
Two months later, that had fizzled out.