Herr Wichmann von der CDU (2003)

The 25-year-old student Henryk Wichmann is the Brandenburg CDU’s direct candidate in constituency 57, Uckermark–Barnim I, in the 2002 federal election. He is challenging longtime Bundestag member Markus Meckel (SPD), whose poll numbers are far higher than Wichmann’s and who won the previous election with 52% of the first votes. With the slogan “Fresh wind brings movement to politics,” Wichmann seeks voters’ support at street stalls, fairs, businesses, schools, and retirement homes. The candidate takes a semester off to campaign and has taken out a loan. With little help from campaign staff, he personally handles both ordering and distributing election posters and other promotional materials. Angela Merkel and Jürgen Rüttgers both support him at a campaign event. On election night, he follows the coverage with fellow party members and is pleased by the victory that chancellor candidate Edmund Stoiber claims for himself early in the evening. As the night goes on, the projections change, and the upbeat mood turns to dejection and disbelief. In his own constituency, Wichmann loses decisively to SPD candidate Meckel (Meckel: 49.3%; down 2.5 percentage points compared with the 1998 federal election; Wichmann: 21.4%; up 1.1 percentage points).