Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was as cross and jumpy as a baited bear and as busy as a bee at twilight. Reason: Der Alte (the Old One), as West Germans call their indomitable leader, was afraid his C.D.U. (Christian Democrats) might lose a crucial provincial election this week in North Rhine-Westphalia. This is the largest and most important of West Germany's nine states (it contains the Ruhr). Its nearly 10 million eligible voters would only elect 200 new deputies to the state legislature at Diisseldorf, but they were also rendering judgment on how much Konrad Adenauer's popularity has fallen off.
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