CDU Hessen before the state elections: Fight like Bavaria
BBavaria and Hesse vote on one day, October 8th. That’s why the Hessian CDU and the Bavarian CSU move closer together, coordinate, jointly attack the traffic light coalition in the federal government. The state elections are to become a “vote on the chaos traffic light”. This is what the Hessian CDU chairman and Prime Minister Boris Rhein said at a closed conference of his party at the weekend in Fulda.
His guest Alexander Dobrindt, head of the regional group, spoke of the “midterms of the traffic light”. CSU in the Bundestag, alluding to the American midterm elections. In autumn, 20 million people, almost a quarter of all Germans, voted and could give a “clear signal” that the “Streit traffic light” should not hope for an extension. Rhein spoke of the fact that the meeting of the coalition partners in Berlin this weekend sent the signal of “squabbles, hesitation, hesitation”, while Fulda conveyed confidence. “We are the contrast program to the federal government,” says a program paper.
Hope for a golden October
The Hessian CDU wants to learn from the CSU. Not only when it comes to riotous alliteration, but also in the way the campaign is run and the setting of topics. Rhein speaks of the “golden September” and describes the 2013 state election as a kind of model; organized the CSU election campaign at the time Dobrindt and he gave the party an absolute majority. Now they are counting on a “golden October.”
No, a spokesman said they don’t want to set election targets of 40 plus X, as the CSU once issued, in Wiesbaden. But the themes from back then, which revolved around tolls for foreigners and mothers’ pensions, should provide inspiration. The topics that move people should be emotional. The former CSU campaign maker was bought for this: Benedikt Kuhn, who now works for the Thjnk agency, is to support Secretary General Manfred Pentz.
Work on the campaign began months ago in close coordination between Rhein and the party headquarters. And so, more than six months before the state elections, there are two large posters in front of the congress center that are intended to show the new style: In order to differentiate itself more clearly, the dominant color is now petrol, the lettering CDU is white.
Boris Rhein can be seen on the posters in a relaxed posture and with a confident facial expression. “Internal security, external serenity” is a slogan. “Don’t promise too much, but keep everything”, is the other slogan. Rhein does not wear a tie in the pictures. Does that fit a prime minister, the CDU asked itself – and to be on the safe side had it checked by public opinion polls. No objections, even from older voters.
The polls are good for the CDU
In general, the party wants to keep a very close eye on the mood in the country. The CDU has ruled in what was once the red district since 1999 Hesse. According to a Christian Democrat, one is very well aware that this is not a gift from God. There is no mood of change, it was said, but one wants to spread a spirit of optimism. Rhein is still quite new to office; at the end of May last year he was elected in the state parliament with the votes of the CDU and the Greens. Most recently, his approval ratings increased, and the CDU also increased slightly. According to the survey conducted by Infratest Dimap in mid-March, the party currently has 32 percent, the Greens 22 percent and the SPD 20 percent in Hesse.
