Kohl savors boost for re-election bid

With as many as one-third of the voters still undecided nationwide, his Bavarian allies' victory Sunday could give him the jump-start he needs to counter recent momentum that had favored his challenger, Gerhard Schroeder.

"I am very happy that we have gotten this push," Kohl told reporters yesterday. "The federal election is not decided yet, whatever the polls say."

After Kohl's party lost support in two bellwether state elections, the victory of the Kohl-allied Christian Social Union in Bavarian state elections gives the chancellor a big boost heading into the final stretch of a so-far uneventful race.

No one expected anything but a victory for the CSU, which has ruled Bavaria alone since 1962 and has been part of every conservative national government since World War II.

But the mere fact that Kohl's conservative allies did not lose support - maintaining the 53 percent majority they registered in 1994 - has been interpreted by some as a turnaround for Kohl.

The Social Democrats, on the other hand, dropped about one point to 29 percent in Bavaria.

Already Europe's longest-serving leader, Kohl badly needed good news before the Sept. 27 parliamentary election. The man whose political agility belies his hulking form has recently seemed strained and worn-out on the campaign trail, strengthening impressions that he's used up after 16 years in office.

Kohl has been playing catch-up in the polls since March, when Schroeder got his party's nod to take Kohl after winning elections in his home state, Lower Saxony.

The decisive victory gave Schroeder a boost that only began to narrow this summer. Few would be taking Kohl seriously now if it weren't for his come-from-behind victory in the last weeks of the 1994 campaign.

Kohl can take heart from a similar trend this year: The Social Democrats' lead has narrowed from 8 points in the spring to 3 points just 10 days ago.

Never before, however, has Kohl trailed so close to election day. And his campaign's theme - stability - has done little to generate a sense of excitement.

Kohl is focusing on major diplomatic achievements - unifying Germany and setting the stage for the European single currency - and experience as a statesperson in a time of global economic turmoil.

09-15-98