That Angela Merkel, the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union, wanted the job had long been an open secret, although no one but she knew how far she was prepared to go. But it was the uncertainty with which her rival, Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber of the Christian Social Union, the CDU's Bavarian sister party, also shrouded himself that made the question of who would lead the Union parties into the 22 September elections as chancellor candidate against incumbent Gerhard Schroeder, so exciting. Mr. Stoiber has come a long way from his refusal to sacrifice himself for the CDU in an election that once looked impossible to win, through his statement that he would under no circumstances run against the wishes of Ms. Merkel and her party, to his willingness to take her on in a divisive vote if necessary. 
	
	
 Mr. Stoiber carefully tread the path to the candidacy, spurred on by many and reined in by others. But he let slip the opportunities to turn back, because the forces that drive him -- his desire to affect change, his sense of duty to his peers and his ambition -- would not permit him to pass up the biggest chance of his political life. Mr. Stoiber seized it once the CDU made clear that it preferred him to its own chairwoman. That has always been the basic premise for a CSU chairman to accept the candidacy on behalf of the bigger sister party. It does not, of course, guarantee success at the polls -- or even solidarity in the campaign. 
	
	
 Certainly, Mr. Stoiber has done everything in his power to spare himself the fate of his mentor, Franz Josef Strauss. Rather than force himself on the CDU, he waited to be called. Having marginalized their own leader, the CDU grandees cannot afford to leave the chancellor candidate in the lurch as well. The most cogent argument in Mr. Stoiber's favor is that he will be running as a hopeful and not as the ticket of last resort. The CDU chose him because it believes in victory. The government is floundering, more seriously than anyone would have thought six months ago. The Union parties could not have wished for a better situation from which to launch their campaign. If anyone in their ranks can turn this to their advantage, it is Mr. Stoiber. 
	
	
 Nonetheless, he will be made to realize that he cannot command the CDU, that his power base lies in Munich and not in Berlin, and that the invitation of kingmakers to accept the crown comes at a cost. Nor will Mr. Stoiber have any illusions of what it means to lead an election campaign, although he can be confident in the knowledge that what is at stake is not Edmund Stoiber, nor the Union, but Germany as a whole.