A Clash of Family Values

When Edmund Stoiber chose Katherina Reiche as his family expert for the election campaign, reaction from social conservatives was swift and critical. Guests on a Bavarian talk show, upset that Reiche has two children without being married, described her as "with brats and without wedding ring." An indignant Joachim Meisner, the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Cologne, said Stoiber's Christian Social Union and its Christian Democratic Union partner should drop "Christian" from their names. And the antiabortion group Christian Democrats for Life attacked Reiche for supporting the use of stem cells in medical research. Said its chairwoman, Johanna von Westfalen: "I cannot...