Baerbock as Chancellor-Candidate?

 The Green Party held a meeting this morning, and let the news go.....their Chancellor-candidate is done, and will be Annalena Baerbock.

A big deal?

The Greens started out in 1980, and after the Wall came down.....did an alliance with eastern Germans.....referring to themselves from that point on as 'Alliance 90/Green Party'.   

In the era of 1980 to 2000....they finally hit the 5-percent or more situation in 1983's national election. From that point on....for about twenty years....they were able to win in the 8-percent range.

In the 2009 national election, they managed a 10.7-percent win....showing some growth finally.

What's happened since the 2017 national election?  The Greens have carved away SPD's traditional voters.  They stand presently (in polls) to have 20 to 22 percent of the national vote.  

Some think....with Baerbock now as the 'brand-salesperson'....the Greens finally have a chance to clear 25 percent of the vote (taking a huge segment away from the SPD).

The end of the SPD as a dynamic player in German elections?  From my prospective, there are three key things being played out:

1.  The SPD 'brand' is mostly older male candidates, and it's obvious when they do public forum appearances.  

2.  The SPD kind of dumped it's attachment to the middle-class working-class voter over the past two decades.  That's also very obvious part of this story.

3.  Finally, if you wander around highly urbanized areas (Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Dresden, Frankfurt, etc)....the political topics that sell to the public well...are owned and controlled by the Green Party.  

I might go and suggest that the SPD Party will be lucky to get around 12-to-15 percent of the national vote in September.....which would really reset the political stage for the next decade ahead.

As for potential for Baerbock to win?  Even if they come in second-place....the Greens will have finally shown the strength to carry out political agendas.  It's entirely possible that the CDU (potentially winning) will have to forge a coalition, and Baerbock ends up as the Vice-Chancellor, and hold portfolio of Foreign Minister, or Finance Minister.  

As for the number person in the Greens now?  Robert Habeck?  If Baerbock accepts the Finance Minister job.....Habeck would end up as the Foreign Minister job.  So for him....it's still a win-win situation.

With the five months remaining for the election....settle back and watch the landscape...it should be interesting.