Inside The Scandal

By Charles P. Wallace/Berlin

A mix of politics and cash...

--THE ARMS DEALER: Karlheinz Schreiber, shown at right, is fighting extradition from Canada to Germany. He has given millions of dollars to senior officials of the C.D.U.

--THE OFFICIAL: Ludwig-Holger Pfahls, former head of the counterespionage service, vanished after allegedly taking kickbacks

--THE TREASURER: Walther Leisler Kiep's confession that money was placed in secret bank accounts led to the current scandal

--THE BUSINESSMAN: Frenchman Andre Guelfi, 80, nicknamed Dede the Sardine, said he gave C.D.U. officials nearly $40 million to help win a contract

...has trashed the C.D.U....

--THE SUCCESSOR: Wolfgang Schauble has admitted he took cash from arms dealer Schreiber. But the party is sticking by Schauble for now. One theory: it will wait till the scandal's end to dump him

...and raised a cry for new leadership

As Germans contemplate their political future with the opposition Christian Democratic Union in meltdown mode over a campaign-funding scandal, it's not surprising that attention has begun to turn to possible alternative leaders. Wolfgang Schauble, 57, the party chairman, offered to resign last week but was overruled by the party leadership.

Perhaps the leading candidate to replace Schauble at the moment is Christian Wulff, 40, an attorney who is the party's deputy chairman. Wulff is telegenic and one of the leaders of the "Jungen Wilden," the Young Wild Ones, a group of up-and-coming, fortysomething local politicians in the C.D.U. Wulff was an early critic of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl's, even trying to block Kohl from running for a fifth term in 1998. "The C.D.U. does not accept that anybody puts himself outside the legal system," Wulff said last week, referring to Kohl's refusal to name the source of illegal contributions to the party. A big liability for Wulff is that he is the C.D.U.'s party leader in Lower Saxony, home of the current Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder. In the last election in Lower Saxony, Schroder's Social Democratic Party whipped Wulff and the C.D.U.

Another Young Wild One with a chance of succeeding Schauble is Peter Muller, 44, a former judge from the Saarland, Germany's coal belt. Unlike Wulff, Muller has a successful track record against the Social Democrats, having led his party to victory in state elections last September. But Muller joined the chorus against Kohl relatively recently, raising credibility questions.

One possible successor to Schauble is not young at all. Kurt Biedenkopf, prime minister of Saxony, is a white-haired 70-year-old. What Biedenkopf lacks in youth, however, he makes up with credentials: he was an early and outspoken critic of Kohl's autocratic domination of the party. While that was considered a liability with Kohl in power, Biedenkopf now stands out as the party's conscience, in much the same way Jimmy Carter appeared so attractive to an American electorate revolted by the Watergate affair.

--By Charles P. Wallace/Berlin. With reporting by Ursula Sautter/Bonn

With reporting by Ursula Sautter/Bonn