A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

The polls in Germany are close enough that anything can happen, but it would seem that because of Gerhard Schröder's excellent campaign skills and Angela Merkel's lack thereof, the Social Democrats will remain a serious force to be reckoned with:

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his conservative challenger both broke with long tradition against campaigning on election eve Saturday, heading to Germany's most populous state to stump for support in what has become a tight national vote.

Amid polls showing some 25 percent of voters still undecided, Schroeder and Angela Merkel were in North Rhine-Westphalia to push their competing visions.

Schroeder touched on all of his major themes in a 20-minute speech to 10,000 people in Recklinghausen, highlighting his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the development of closer ties with France and Russia as foreign policy triumphs.

Merkel likely would move Germany back closer to the United States, its longtime security partner from the Cold War.

His voice harsh from the campaign trail, Schroeder defended his limited tax cuts and trims in long-term jobless benefits while criticizing Merkel's proposals to streamline the tax system, make it easier for small companies to fire people and loosen the rigid labor market.

He urged supporters of his left-of-center Social Democratic Party to bring out any undecided voters they know.

"Think about bringing grandma and grandpa with you _ but only if they're going to vote for the SPD," he said.

In Bonn, Merkel, leader of the Christian Democrats, pushed her plans to create jobs and accelerate economic reforms, emphasizing that the Social Democrats' rule has seen the number of jobless rise above 5 million for the first time since World War II. The unemployment rate for Europe's largest economy is now 11.4 percent.

Germany's economy grew a sluggish 1.6 percent last year after three years of almost no growth, which has been a drag on all of Europe.

"Vote for change because Germany needs a future," Merkel told a cheering crowd of some 7,000.

Recent polls put Merkel's Christian Democrats well ahead, but Schroeder's Social Democrats have made up enough ground in the last weeks that it might become impossible for her to form her preferred coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats.

That has led to widespread speculation that the Christian Democrats instead may be forced into a "grand coalition" with Schroeder's party _ an uneasy alliance that almost certainly would exclude Schroeder and many fret might lead to deadlock.

But does anyone doubt that even if Schröder is excluded, he will have won the lasting gratitude of the SPD for having pulled them from the brink? And does anyone doubt that this lasting gratitude will allow the current Chancellor to remain a major power player in German politics?

It did not have to be this way, of course. And if the Christian Democrats had a better campaigner at their disposal, it wouldn't have been.