German right gears up for elections

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Conservative candidate Edmund Stoiber kicked Germany's election campaign into high gear Tuesday with a sweeping attack on the government, bolstered by polls indicating Germans will take a cue from the French and vote out the left in September.

Sweat poured down the Bavarian governor's brow as he fired up a convention of the Christian Democratic party with a speech that outlined pledges to re-ignite the economy, curb immigration and restore the nation's pride.

Stoiber shouted, punched the air with his fist and pounded the lectern, ridiculing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's four years of center-left government and staking his claim to power. "I will be the better chancellor," he said.

About 1,000 boisterous delegates in a sweltering Frankfurt meeting hall gave him a 10-minute standing ovation at the end. Some shouted "Here we go, here we go," signaling the party's revived confidence after a slush-fund scandal that engulfed it and former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Stoiber, 60, beamed and wiped his face with a towel after a 1 1/2-hour speech in which he hammered home his main message -- that Schroeder had allowed Germany to fall behind economically, leaving it in last place in Europe in terms of growth and job creation.

"Germany can't afford to give Schroeder a second chance," Stoiber said. "Germany can do better."

Looking to recapture middle-of-the-road voters who lifted Schroeder to power in 1998, Stoiber pledged across-the-board tax cuts, more money for education and more daycare to help working parents if elected. He promised more government aid for formerly communist east Germany.

But he went beyond the economy and assertively positioned himself with"an enlightened patriotism, a positive bond with the German nation."