TV triumph with Germany’s candidates for chancellor Laschet, Scholz and Baerbock

If Armin Laschet (60) is nervous, he can hide it pretty well that evening. At the first big TV exchange of blows, the immensely under pressure chancellor candidate of the Union speaks determinedly and mostly calmly on Sunday evening at RTL and ntv, relies on attack, refrains from annoyed reactions and new mistakes. It’s all or nothing for him: if he messes up the first TV triad four weeks before the federal election, the prospect of defending the Chancellery after 16 years of Angela Merkel (67) should drop to zero. So disastrous are the polls of the Union, so catastrophic are the popularity ratings of the candidate.

Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (63), who with his SPD is well ahead of the Union von Laschet in the polls, is sticking to the successful course of the past few weeks: He statesmanlike himself as a possible successor to the still extremely popular CDU Chancellor. When Laschet and Annalena Baerbock (40) get caught up in the discussion, he often leans back quite relaxed.