When she named the law professor Paul Kirchhof, who advocated a flat tax, as her candidate for finance minister, Merkel’s electoral cakewalk turned into a nightmare. She lost nearly her entire lead, and in the end won by only a tiny margin – a margin too small to form her preferred coalition with the liberal Free Democrats.
但德国的选民并不欣赏她的诚实。当默克尔提名在德国提倡统一税率的法律教授Paul Kirchhoff作为财政部长的候选人时，她的选举步态竞赛就变成了一场噩梦。她几乎失去了所有的领先优势，最终只是以极少的票数胜出。这种优势微弱得使她不能组建与自由党的理想联盟，反倒不得不与施罗德的社会民主党联合，虽然施罗德本人已成为局外人。