Merkel's would-be heir seeks rebound after election debate

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s struggling would-be heir has hit back at suggestions that a center-left rival is better qualified for the job after a televised debate failed to give him a clear breakthrough

BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's struggling would-be heir on Monday hit back at suggestions that a center-left rival is better qualified for the job after a televised debate failed to give him a clear breakthrough. Armin Laschet, the chancellor candidate from Merkel's center-right Union bloc, insisted that he was “not at all” frustrated by a poll following Sunday night's debate. It showed most viewers picking center-left Social Democrat Olaf Scholz as the winner of the event, followed by environmentalist Green contender Annalena Baerbock and then Laschet. The mass-circulation Bild daily's front page proclaimed it a “clear victory for Scholz on TV” and a “debate debacle for Laschet.” The race for Germany's Sept. 26 parliamentary election, which has been marked by missteps first by Baerbock and then Laschet, is too close to call. Recent polls show Laschet's Union bloc — which long enjoyed a lead — level with or even slightly behind Scholz's long-moribund Social Democrats, with the Greens a few points back.