Reeling from financing scandals that threaten former Chancellor Helmut Kohl with criminal prosecution, Germany's Christian Democrats have turned to Ms. Angela Merkel to cleanse the party. It is a gamble, but it could pay off.
Party leaders this week nominated Ms. Merkel, party secretary general, to succeed former chairman Wolfgang Schaeuble, who resigned over the slush-funds scandal that has turned the CDU upside down. Party members must confirm her at a convention next month, but she is running unopposed.
In some ways, Ms. Merkel is a curious choice. She is an "Ossi" -- someone from former East Germany -- and her career in politics spans only a decade. She is a Kohl protege, who took several Cabinet posts during the former chancellor's long term in office. She is a Protestant in a country dominated by Catholics. Not only is Ms. Merkel the first female leader of a major party in Germany, but the CDU is perhaps the most conservative of them all. And finally, she is decidedly unphotogenic at a time when image is all in politics.