1998, schroder voted in
trying not to go with traditional socialist party, new center
main parties
	greens
	new left
	spd
	cdu
	something here, see last date

merkel 2005
	first woman chancellor
	first chancellor from east
	from christian democrats
	divorced
	helps craft grand coalition agreement
		jobs
		east germany
		budget/debt
		social security
		families
		education/science
		environment
		tech
		federal reform
		security
	coalition takes place after voting
	language is bland, lofty, nothing radical or dramatic
	
safeguarding prospertity, creating jobs
	50+ initiative, get older citizens back into the job market, better skillsets, more expertise
press ahead with development of east germany
	east still isn't as economically developed as west
make savings, abolish subsidies, raising taxes
social security
	needs reform, too many pulling out, not enough paying in
families, help out with child care, encourage families to have more children, funding for day care
education/science, brainpower of its people is the key to germany's future, increase quality, get back to top
environment, 
tech, be more competitive, gov't funding for new tech
fed reform, strong variation in central gov't law enforcement from state to state, specific rules/budgeting
security, domestic (personal as well as law and order, no religious persecution, tolerance) and international (terrorism, etc)