Scholzmacher; AfD on the up: Election Diary Jan 12th

AI generation: getting ready to race again.

Dear Reader,

There are exactly six weeks to go until Election Day.

Given the current state of polling, if Olaf Scholz pulls off a victory this time around he will displace Michael Schumacher as the German with the coolest ability to overtake his rivals from the most unlikely of starting positions.

He has of course done it once before.

Back in 2021, Scholz was way behind on 16 percent with three months to go before polling day, far behind his main rival from the CDU. Steering an iconic red election vehicle that had seen better days, no one gave him a chance in hell of winning.

Nonetheless, with his calm, phlegmatic style he managed to reel in his rivals, one by one.

With eight weeks to go until Election Day, “Scholzi” had pulled neck and neck with the young tyro who had been chosen to drive the Green machine. Annalena Baerbock’s wind-fuelled car was met with rapture by the punditry when unveiled at the start of the race. But by August, she’d run out of puff and the wheels had come off her campaign.

That left him with just the hot favourite Armin Laschet ahead of him.

Sat at the wheel of the CDU, an election-winning machine, Laschet seemingly couldn’t lose. But, slightly too confident of victory, he couldn’t resist the odd cigar break and jocular interaction with his crew - a complacency that would prove disastrous.

The Scholzmacher pulled past him on the final straight, thus pulling off one of the most dramatic victories in German political history.

This time around, the master of the late comeback apparently wants to give his fans an even more spectacular victory to gasp at.