With two days left before polling, the outcome of Germany's election on Sunday remains in the balance. Chancellor Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU), which appeared to be heading for certain defeat some short months ago, have clawed their way back into contention. The latest polls show the Chancellor's centre-right coalition trailing Mr Gerhard Schroder's Social Democrats (SPD) by just three-five percentage points. The choice facing the people of Germany is clear: whether to stick with the Chancellor - one of the towering figures of the post-War era - or whether to back Mr Schroder, a 54-year-old former lawyer who portrays himself as a torchbearer for a new generation of Germans.
Chancellor Kohl, who is seeking a record fifth election victory, is already Europe's longest-serving leader. His achievements as the architect of German unification and as the prime mover in the drive towards European unity are beyond dispute. But his domestic record is less impressive, characterised by a failure to reform the economy or to take tough action against unemployment, which now - with four million jobless - is at a level not seen since before the Second World War.
In this election, Dr Kohl appears not to be standing on his recent record. Rather, he is stressing the virtues of continuity, stability and his own vast international experience. It is a message which has a strong resonance for many Germans as storm clouds gather in the international economy and as the political and economic turbulence continues in Russia. The question is whether the Chancellor's recovery in the polls has come too late.
The telegenic Mr Schroder has run a slick campaign; his focus has been on the sense of political drift in Germany and the need for a modernising agenda not dissimilar to that adopted by Mr Blair in Britain. Mr Schroder appears fresh and energetic in comparison to the 68-year-old chancellor. But Mr Schroder has little to boast about in his eight years as prime minister of Lower Saxony, a state with one of the highest jobless rates in Germany, and he has frequently drawn accusations of political opportunism.
Mr Schroder's approach to Europe is more pragmatic than visionary - even if he has dropped his earlier opposition to the euro and claims to be "a European by instinct". The grand vision advanced for so long by Dr Kohl of anchoring Germany in the New Europe is conspicuously absent. Instead, there is a more pragmatic emphasis on the need to defend Germany's national interests aggressively and to bring the EU closer to the people its serves.
At this writing, Mr Schroder is still favourite to form a new administration in coalition with the Greens. But with the smaller parties still lagging, a grand coalition bringing together the main parties is still possible. Such a move might be popular with voters and the markets - but a parliament in which a huge majority of members are in power could enhance the appeal of extremists groups.