Word: strausses
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Cool and steady, Schmidt parries Strauss's brawny assault...
With his bulldog shape and brawling style, Franz Josef Strauss was not about to win the West German national election on looks and charisma. Throughout, he had searched for an issue to stir the electorate, something to pinprick the lofty image of his telegenic opponent, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. But every time Strauss attacked, Schmidt parried, mostly by reminding voters that West had never been so prosperous or so world affairs. "I sympathize with Strauss," said a Düsseldorf banker. "He has been in the impossible position of trying to find fault with success...
...coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats (SPD-F.D.P.) were returned with a majority in the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, which elects the Chancellor. His supporters won 53.1% of the vote - 42.6% for the SPD and 10.5% for the F.D.P. - compared with 44.8% for Strauss's conservative Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union. Said the victorious Schmidt: "I am very satisfied with the results...
Since 1949 the tiny F.D.P., whose members are mostly middle class and professional, has been in the crucial swing role. By siding again with the Social Democrats instead of the conservatives, the Free Democrats aimed not only to block the election of Strauss, whom they regard as an extremist, but also to help Schmidt neutralize the left wing of his SPD. Said F.D.P. Chairman Hans-Dietrich Genscher: "Our mission is to ensure government from the center, not from the fringes, left or right...
...Strauss, 65, a highly intelligent career politician who served with distinction as Defense and Finance Minister, had trouble building a constituency outside his native Bavaria, the heartland of German conservatism. He campaigned enthusiastically, wading into crowds and sparring with hecklers. But his colorful rhetoric tended to reinforce his image as an emotional and erratic right-winger. "There is a lack of stability in his makeup," said Lawyer Wolfgang Wilde, 40, an independent voter in West Berlin. "Moderate Germans feel that he could lead us back to cold war confrontation...