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Candidate Baerbock, Prime Minister Kretschmann
Photo: Dominik Butzmann
Annalena Baerbock seems a bit tired when her entourage stops in front of the Stuttgart State Ministry on this Wednesday morning, this white castle at half height.
In the past few weeks, the green candidate for chancellor has covered almost thirteen thousand kilometers in her green double-decker bus.
She toured 43 cities, attended numerous election campaign events and met dozens of people.
Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann, 73, on the other hand, seems well rested and relaxed when he steps on board with shuffling steps. There are only a few days left until the election. The first green candidate for chancellor hopes for the last few meters of protection from Germany's only green head of government. Today the two of them travel together in the bus to Karlsruhe, to a "town hall" on the market square.
Baerbock can use the support of the green superfather, she has been weak in the polls for weeks.
The dream of the Chancellery seems to have burst.
Baerbock and Kretschmann take a seat in a green-upholstered group of seats on the lower floor of the bus.
"It's about the question of how we fight climate change and at the same time preserve our prosperity in the long term," says Kretschmann.
"Annalena Baerbock has the right energy, competence and the inner drive to cope with this historic task."
And: “She is the right Chancellor for this job.
I am absolutely convinced of her. ”Kretschmann chooses his words carefully, but at this moment he does not seem quite so convinced.
First, he too is familiar with the election forecasts.
Second, it is no secret in political Stuttgart that he would have preferred Robert Habeck as candidate for chancellor if he had had the choice.
He only played a minor role in Baerbock's election campaign.
But Kretschmann is enough of an election campaigner to know that all that matters now is confidence.
Baerbock says: “We experienced a roller coaster ride during the election campaign.
But we will fight until Sunday 5:59 p.m. «.
Many people expected their party to sustainably modernize Germany as an industrial location.
“That is our task, which we want to tackle in a strong climate government.
And that's why we fight for every single vote. "
Baerbock and Kretschmann are sitting across from each other in the narrow bus.
The age difference is clear.
When the candidate for Chancellor was born in December 1980, Kretschmann had co-founded the Greens a few months earlier.
When she became a party member in 2005, he had been a member of the state parliament in Baden-Württemberg for decades.
"We really got to know each other in the Jamaica negotiations in 2017," says Baerbock.
"Today we are in a trusting exchange."
Kretschmann has been ruling Baden-Württemberg for ten years.
And of course, the Greens in the state are still something like the inner-party pioneers of power.
"Over the past few years, Winfried Kretschmann has shown how climate protection and technical innovations can work together at an important industrial location," says Baerbock.
For example, there is Kretschmann's "Politics of Being Heard", that is, comprehensive citizen participation before important political decisions.
According to Baerbock, the Prime Minister brings various actors to one table and solves urgent tasks together.
"With such an approach, we have also opened the party to the broadest of society in recent years."
Baerbock emphasizes that the Greens are now involved in ten state governments.
But Kretschmann quickly makes it clear why this can hardly be compared with his country.
"The big difference is that we lead a government in Baden-Württemberg," he says.
"If you are a small partner in a coalition, you help shape it, bring your core issues to the table and try to enforce them." But he is responsible for the cohesion of the coalition.
"You have to take everyone with you, that's what people expect."
In moments like these it becomes clear that Baerbock and Kretschmann move in different spheres.
Election Sunday is unlikely to change that.