The two young women are completely soaked when they arrive at the bar near Berlin Central Station.
If you come from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, such a downpour doesn’t throw you off track.
It is even more dramatic that the cell phone batteries are almost empty.
Nora Zabel, 25, and Lilly Blaudszun, 20, are close friends and are politically active - albeit for different parties.
Later that evening, during the television triumph, Zabel will tweet for Armin Laschet, Blaudszun for Olaf Scholz.
Before doing this, talk to us about your friendship.
Jörg Thomann
Editor in the "Life" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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Ms. Zabel, why do you think Lilly Blaudszun is in the SPD?
Zabel:
Because she is a very, very big fan of Manuela Schwesig.
.
.
Blaudszun:
Yes, but that's not why I'm in the SPD.
Zabel:
And because you've always been interested in the local people and in implementing social ideas.
You told me that once!
And why, Ms. Blaudszun, did Nora Zabel end up in the CDU?
Blaudszun:
Nora is much more conservative than me.
Not in the sense of Friedrich Merz, but in the sense of values.
It makes sense that we are not in the same party.
Zabel:
Maybe because for you, being conservative means being on time?
Blaudszun:
What?
Just because I wasn't there on time?
Okay, several times.
How long have you been friends?
Zabel:
Really tight?
A year and a half.
Blaudszun: How long
have we known each other?
Zabel:
From Twitter for three years.
How often have you tried to lead the other off on her wrong track?
Blaudszun:
Not at all.
Zabel:
Never.
Because it would make no sense and because we both allow ourselves to be successful in our respective parties.
Blaudszun:
In my private
life
, I don't have to convince all my friends to vote for the SPD.
I also see that Nora is in good hands with her party.
Then why should I tell her to come into mine?
And when the two of you meet, how much do you talk about politics?
Zabel:
That plays a big role.
But we'll clear that away right at the beginning.
.
.
Blaudszun:
Yes.
We'll discuss that briefly, and then.
.
.
Zabel:
Let's talk about boys
(laughs)
.
Blaudszun
(laughs)
: What?
Hey, about everything!
Zabel:
Yes.
About our private life.
Blaudszun:
What do you
say?
What is the strongest connection between the two of you: origin, youth, gender?
Zabel:
All three things.
Definitely ancestry, because we are socialized the same way.
Blaudszun:
We also come from the same district.
Zabel:
We took every harvest festival with us.
.
.
Blaudszun: We went
to the same disco.
.
.
Zabel:
We had a similar group of friends and went to the same festivals.
Blaudszun:
And in general there aren't that many young women in politics - especially when you have the press.
That definitely connects us.
It is unusual for you to be involved in one of the traditional popular parties for your age group. You have just said on ZDF, Ms. Zabel, that when you were at school you were sometimes looked at from an angle.
Zabel:
Yes.
I also play soccer, and once my friends came to watch and said: CDU scores a goal.
You can get annoyed about it, but I'm also a little proud.
I don't take it seriously, and I think they secretly think it's cool too.
Blaudszun:
It's similar with me.
Of course you don't belong to the mainstream if you join the SPD at the age of 15.
But when I meet people from my school days, they say: I always thought it was a bit strange, but when I see what you're doing now, it's totally cool.
You both work for your parties in comparable positions: You are trying to make their politics more popular via social media. Are you looking at something from each other?
Zabel:
Phew, difficult.
We both have completely different styles.
Blaudszun:
And Nora tends to make memes while I am accompanying my boss Manuela Schwesig, these are different areas.