"Can you give a quick thumbnail of what each party on your graft stands for?"
Now in post #7:
Notes for readers not familiar with German politics: SPD = Schroeder's Social-Democrats; CDU-CSU = Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and Bavarian Christian Social Democratic Union; Grüne = Greens; FDP = Free-Democrats (business and economically-minded party), Linke.PDS = Left-Wing ex-Communist party; Sonstige = Others.
The UPDATE in post #7 is the real bummer.
Never mind, found out in the AP story what each party is. She should let Schroeder stay in power. More econmic bumps along the way for him to take the fall for.