Confidence in Old King Kohl

Despite recession, high taxes and unemployment, the architect of unification wins four more years

Helmut Kohl and Germany look like a good physical match: the tall, burly Chancellor casts as large a political shadow at home as his powerful country does across the European Continent. While Kohl needed a lot of help from his coalition partners to win a fourth straight four-year term last week, he was the real issue of the campaign. Some posters carried only his portrait, without bothering to mention his name or that of his Christian Democratic Party. Unfazed when popularity polls showed him trailing 11% early this year, he insisted he would still win the national election. As his prediction...

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