Gerhard Schröder looks remarkably at ease for a man who's just called a snap election at a time when his Social Democratic Party trails by as much as 18 percentage points in the polls. Leaning back in a leather chair in an office tower overlooking the fairgrounds in Hanover, the regional capital where as Governor he started his long march to the chancellery, Schröder glances affectionately at his step-daughter Klara who is waiting patiently for him to finish the morning's business, eager to get on with a pleasant spring morning out on the town. But Schröder's cool, collected appearance is deceiving....
