Thanks for your analysis and first hand perspective.
Do you think the German press will cover this and let it be known what is really going on with Messina?
Spiegel told the story. It might get picked up by the state-run news media and just mentioned as a side-note. Otherwise, Messina will quietly run in the background for all of 2016.
I should note, there are five state elections in Germany for 2016. What the SPD may do....in hopes of getting some Messina magic working early....is use his talents in the five state elections. That would be an early indicator that it’s successful and worth the cost. I’m guessing that Messina is charging a heck of a lot....and the SPD leadership expects some plus-ups during the 2016 state election period. If nothing changes...they would likely dump him and save the cost. German political parties don’t have hundreds of millions at their disposal.
Once you get to the summer period of 2017 and the national election campaign underway....his name might get brought up and people ask about the differences in 2017 compared to years previous.
Here’s the negative slant though....if the SPD fails and Germans get a really sour taste in their mouth over the Americanization of their politics....they will only go to one other party....the Linke Party (the former Communists Party of DDR). Presently, the Linke Party has around sixteen percent of the national vote. If the SPD screws up....I could easily see the Linke Party going up to around twenty-five percent of the German vote....maybe even thirty-percent. If’s a big risk to chase away your voters....into the arms of the Linke Party.