Merkel's rival has rocky start in race

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's bid to become Germany's chancellor has quickly run into problems that highlight how hard it will be for him to challenge Angela Merkel while serving as her deputy.

Steinmeier won the Social Democratic Party's, or SPD, backing in September to take on the chancellor in next year's federal election, but he is struggling to overcome party divisions and outshine cabinet colleagues during the financial crisis. Support for the SPD is mired near record lows and opinion polls show Steinmeier trailing a long way behind Merkel, who leads an uneasy coalition grouping the SPD, her Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, and a sister party.

Invisible nominee
A poll released at the weekend showed 54 percent of Germans would choose Merkel for a second term as chancellor in a direct vote, and Steinmeier would win only 31 percent. "Steinmeier's in a conundrum," Gerd Langguth, a political scientist at Bonn University, said. "He must do something to set himself apart."

Steinmeier, 52, tried to shake things up last week, after coming under criticism for remaining quiet on the financial crisis -- a silence which earned him the nickname "invisible candidate" in the German press.

As Merkel was preparing to travel to Washington to discuss a response to the crisis with other world leaders, he surprised her by producing his own nine-point crisis plan for Europe.

Steinmeier's plan called for European Union cooperation to boost jobs and renewable energy to combat the financial crisis, but it triggered debate about why he had unveiled it without consulting Merkel.

Steinmeier made another solo move at the weekend. Shortly after Merkel announced she would receive representatives of troubled carmaker Opel, he said he wanted to meet worker representatives of automakers the same day. His decision to meet them at the foreign ministry, where he usually receives foreign guests, angered conservatives.

Steinmeier's actions, and the mixed response they received, have underscored the challenge he faces in the election campaign, during which he will serve as Merkel's deputy but will also seek to differentiate himself as her top rival. As foreign minister, Steinmeier will also have to try not to create the impression he is encroaching on the territory of SPD colleagues such as Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck who, with Merkel, have led the response to the financial crisis.

Steinbrueck was the main architect of a government stimulus to help Europe's biggest economy, which some SPD members saw as too modest.

Steinmeier could have lifted his profile by pushing for a bigger fiscal boost but went along with his cabinet colleague to avoid an embarrassing public row. Manfred Guellner, head of polling group Forsa, said Steinmeier faced risks in tackling the financial crisis himself but had no other choice as the Sept. 2009 election approaches.

"So far he has only been known as the foreign minister and you can't win an election on foreign policy," Guellner said. "He must now make clear he's the candidate ... and show he is competent on economic issues, which he hasn't done so far." At his nomination, Steinmeier said the financial crisis showed the weakness of a system excessively focused on economic profits and highlighted the supremacy of Social Democrat ideas. But the SPD have failed to benefit from the crisis.

New doubts
Steinmeier's struggles have raised new doubts about his ability to tackle Merkel head-on. He has never been elected to office and some analysts say his soft-spoken, technocratic style is not an adequate alternative to Merkel and her understated competence.

Internal party problems have not helped him. A leadership shakeup in September which led to the removal of the SPD's unpopular chairman, Kurt Beck, failed to end a divisive debate on cooperation with the new Left party.

Steinmeier and Beck's successor, Franz Muentefering, oppose working with the Left party. But they were unable to stop Andrea Ypsilanti, a regional politician, trying to seize power in the state of Hesse this month with the Left party's help. Ypsilanti's power grab failed but pollsters say it contributed to a decline in SPD support to about 23 percent.