Since Willy Brandt's Social Democrats won power two years ago, West Germany's Christian Democratic Union has been a party without a leader. Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 67, the defeated Chancellor, went into a deep sulk and was eventually talked into stepping down as party chairman. Franz Josef Strauss, 56, the burly, ultraconservative leader of the C.D.U.'s Bavarian wing, maneuvered on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Rainer Barzel, 47, took on the burden of leading the C.D.U. in the Bundestag.
Number One. Meeting last week at Saarbrücken, the party picked Barzel as its new chairman, making...