The CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, pushed her into promising tax cuts.
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"After a difficult period, the CDU is again in a position to gain votes".
CDU. Mr Platzeck, in contrast, had to be asked several times to step into federal politics.
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Already CDU politicians are warning their liberal partners-to-be that tax cuts are unaffordable right now.
The CDU is set to win the elections on September 27th though the polls are tightening.
The CDU has also admitted operating a system of secret accounts during Mr Kohl's chancellorship.
"For the CDU, the conservative-Free Democratic coalition is one option among others, " Mr. Niebel admits.
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CDU, adds Mr Ganghof, has often proposed bolder tax reforms than other right-wing parties.
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The CDU and FDP vow to relieve these ailments but there is a big difference between them.
ECONOMIST: Tax cuts emerge as a central issue in the election campaign
But a pairing with the CDU would stretch the Greens' capacity for creative inconsistency to the limit.
The CDU-CSU alliance opposed the full tax cut on the grounds that Germany could not afford it.
"The government bills go in the right direction, but not far enough, " said CDU backbencher Michael Meistr.
CDU-led coalition might push through a constitutional amendment to disentangle the powers of federal and state governments.
CDU's tax ideas do not square with its health-care plans, which would make social-security contributions more regressive.
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She comes from the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
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Or the vote could result in an old-fashioned coalition between the CDU and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).
The CDU has lost ground in most state elections since Mrs Merkel began her second term in 2009.
Norbert Lammert, the Bundestag's president and a member of the CDU, called for raising taxes on top earners.
The Greens had been flirting with the CDU as a possible coalition partner.
CDU's general secretary and two years later, in the wake of a party financing scandal, the party's first chairwoman.
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Up to a point, Mrs Merkel may welcome them: the FDP's 2009 triumph came largely at the CDU's expense.
Ms Maag, probably too far down the CDU list to be elected this way, says she is fighting harder.
The CDU wants to keep taxes high to help reduce the budget deficit.
But she quickly adapted to the constraints of the grand coalition, forced upon her by the CDU's narrow victory.
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The CDU's defence spokesman Paul Breuer said Mr Scharping's position had become untenable.
That softens opposition from the Free Democratic Party, the CDU's pro-business coalition partner.
This time the CDU did even worse than in 2005, winning its lowest share of the vote in 60 years.
The Left Party could displace the CDU as the Social Democrats' governing partner in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
CDU's candidate for chancellor, comes from the region which explains why the east looms so large in the current campaign.
But this would have to be a politically savvy heavyweight sympathetic to the CDU. Nobody seems to fit that bill.
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