Nine months ago, West Berlin's Mayor Willy Brandt looked like a political washout. He had twice led his Social Democratic Party to defeat in national elections, and so severe was his drubbing at the hands of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard last year that Brandt declared bitterly that he would never again campaign for the chancellorship. Privately relieved, the Social Democrats began looking around for a successor.
Last week, by way of contrast, a cheering, whistling and applauding Social Democratic convention in Dortmund re-elected Brandt the party's national chairman by a record majority, 324 to 2. The vote was...