For months, discord from Munich had thrown the election campaign of Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet out of sync.

The CSU party conference on the weekend was the last opportunity to find a tone of commonality for the final spurt.

The CSU used them;

her boss, Markus Söder, managed not to poke at Laschet.

The delegates gave the candidate for chancellor long applause.

Laschet had given a combative speech;

In terms of content, he has worked out the core competencies of the Union.

Again and again it went against the SPD.

May the CSU understand that the opponent is not its own candidate.

The signal of unity was demonstrative. But it wasn't just a show. The CSU has seen where the kicks against Armin Laschet lead: 28 percent of the polls in Bavaria. This would mean it would be below the five percent mark nationwide; an embarrassment for the party, which always peddled with contributing a fifth to the overall result of the union in the federal government.

If the common candidate for chancellor is damaged, the CSU suffers as well. That is actually banal logic that the CSU has long closed to. Was it Söder's lack of control that simply couldn't get over his defeat by Laschet in the fight for the candidacy for chancellor? Was it a tactic to plan ahead for the time after the federal elections - pricing in Laschet's defeat? Maybe both. It doesn't matter for the time being, because apparently the look into the abyss even frightened Söder.

The result of only 87.6 percent in the re-election as CSU chairman certainly contributed to this.

In the previous election two years ago, he had received 91.3 percent.

In the CSU top, a result of more than ninety percent was expected, Söder had always referred to his popularity with the voters in the fight against Laschet.

Now he had to find out that there are even critics in his own ranks - even if they have only dared to emerge in a secret election so far.

It was not to be expected that Söder would even suggest that he had gotten wrong in the past.

He didn't even admit to having changed his position.

Anyway, it's always someone else's fault, this time the journalists.

For them "to take notes", says Söder: "We want Armin Laschet as Chancellor instead of Olaf Scholz."

So now it’s together against the SPD. Laschet had not only warned against a left-wing alliance, but also sharply attacked the SPD, which is so proud of its long history Years governed together. The SPD immediately wedged back, Secretary General Klingbeil referred to the no to the Iraq war, to Brandt's Ostpolitik, the introduction of a minimum wage and the basic pension, marriage for everyone. "Under Laschet, the Union has really lost decency and dignity. "Now things are getting down to business between the Union and the SPD. There is no sleeping car going into the Chancellery. Only the Greens watch the spectacle from the edge."