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Five days before the Bundestag ballot, West German voters seemed to display their unease about the impending new coalition in elections for the local parliament of the central industrial state of Hesse. Widely expected to win a clear majority in that election, the Christian Democrats polled 45.6% of the vote. The Free Democrats were wiped out of the assembly, gaining only 3.1% of the vote, far less than the 5% necessary to retain representation. Campaigning vigorously under the slogan "Betrayal in Bonn," Schmidt's Social Democrats gained 42.8%, an increase of more than 10 percentage points over their predicted total. Said S.D.P. Chairman Willy Brandt after the election: "The electorate has spoken. The Hesse elections have strong national implications."
Brandt hoped that the Hesse results would deter the Free Democrats from joining forces with Kohl. Two days after the election, however, the 54 Free Democrat members of the Bundestag decided by a vote of 34 to 18 to go ahead with the no-confidence maneuver.
A low-key politician from Rhine-land-Palatinate who has spent three decades in Christian Democratic national politics, Kohl is a striking contrast to the hard-driving and brilliant but sometimes arrogant Schmidt. Known in West Germany as the Black Giant, the dark-com plexioned 6-ft. 4-in. jowly Kohl is folksy, gregarious and a devout Roman Catholic. In the Bundestag, Schmidt is always poised and formal. Kohl, on the other hand, has frequently been seen sitting on the opposition benches roaring with laughter, as if parliamentary business were some huge joke. Kohl is fond of saying that "my strength is that people are ready to buy a used car from me without testing it."
The personal differences between Kohl and Schmidt will undoubtedly stand out most sharply at international conference tables. With his economist's training and his experience as West German Defense Minister under Brandt, Schmidt brought vast expertise to international economic issues and nu clear defense questions within NATO, a gap that Kohl cannot hope to fill. Balanced against that, however, was Schmidt's notorious impatience, which drew sparks from other strong-willed statesmen, and his increasingly frequent bouts of personal depression.
Despite his inexperience, the jovial Kohl may get along better than Schmidt did with Ronald Reagan and Britain's Margaret Thatcher. The fact that the three share a conservative political philosophy may be more important than one impediment to mutual understanding: Kohl speaks little English. In Washington, White House officials note with pleasure such Kohl statements as: "People have come to think of the Soviet Union only as a détente and trade partner. We have to remind them of the true nature of Soviet expansionism."