But Mr Stoiber has repeatedly said he will not stand, preferring to remain premier in Bavaria.
Meanwhile the other possibility, Bavarian premier and arch-conservative Edmund Stoiber, appears uneasy about running.
Mr Stoiber promises to reform pensions and health, but his proposals are still vague.
The CSU leader in Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, is not keen on the flat-rate health premium.
Voters, it seems, have more confidence in Mr Stoiber's ability to revive the economy.
Mr Stoiber intends to make employment and immigration central planks of his electoral campaign.
Ms Merkel and Mr Stoiber are trying to counter such fears by changing the subject.
But some right-wing leaders, such as Edmund Stoiber, the premier of Bavaria, have applauded him.
Mr Schroeder faces a tough election battle later this year against the conservative candidate Edmund Stoiber.
It is already clear that the CSU's boss, Edmund Stoiber, will become economics minister.
Much though he would like to, Mr Kohl can neither silence Mr Stoiber nor ignore him.
So at first did Mr Stoiber when he took over from Mr Streibl in 1993.
Ironically, Mr Kohl must hope that Mr Stoiber's anti-Bonn tactics succeed, at least at local level.
The Social Democrats' attempt to paint Mr Stoiber into a right-wing populist's corner has flopped.
ECONOMIST: The right in Germany: Edmund Stoiber sets out his stall | The
But this is not a recovery like 2002's, when he came from behind to defeat Mr Stoiber.
Mr Stoiber promises to bring down the top income-tax rate from a current 48.5% to under 40%.
ECONOMIST: The right in Germany: Edmund Stoiber sets out his stall | The
Mr Stoiber says he will reduce the burden of welfare contributions to less than 40% of average wages.
His conservative challenger, Edmund Stoiber, remained on holiday on a North Sea island.
But Mr Stoiber faces a state poll only weeks before the federal one.
Putting it together was not easy, not least because Mr Stoiber has not said what job, if any, he wants.
Mr Kohl can expect to hear a lot more sadly familiar Straussian rhetoric from Mr Stoiber as polling days approach.
If Mr Stoiber can exceed the 53% he won three years ago, that could boost the government's chances two weeks later.
Conservative politician Edmund Stoiber, on Monday criticised Mr Tenzer, who had been widely tipped to lead the company, as a lacklustre candidate.
Enter Mr Stoiber, prime minister of the country's most successful province, Bavaria.
Mr Stoiber is trying to fight off all these challenges at once.
Five years after taking office, Mr Stoiber has emerged well and truly from the huge shadow of his legendary predecesor-but-one, Franz Josef Strauss.
The last thing he wants is an aggrieved band of Land bosses, some already fairly euro-sceptic, making noisy common cause with Mr Stoiber.
Stoiber has voiced anti-immigration views - but some observers doubt his willingness radically to reform Germany's protective labour laws and other economic rigidities.
The bigger a Christian Social Union victory on September 13th, the better chance Mr Stoiber will have to stop that nightmare coming true.
But one result of Mr Stoiber's tough talk is that far-right parties (see article) have failed to get more than a Bavarian toe-hold.
应用推荐