Interview with Andreas Moser

Q: How long does a campaign for local office typically last?

We are now eight months away from election day, and you couldn't tell that the campaign has started yet. It is already going on, but very slowly, basically just internal preparation and getting the word out amongst friends and looking for volunteers. The campaign will probably really start to go into high gear after Christmas and then go until election day on March 3, 2002.

Q: What does it entail?

A lot of it is done through media, mainly the local newspapers. You go out into the neighborhoods, talk to people, organize events and debates, and they are all covered by the media. Then some massmailing which is distributed by hand usually to save expenses and to also enable the people to get a personal glimpse of the candidate and his volunteers. Me personally, I also plan to make extensive use of my website www.Moser2002.de. To my recollection, this has not been done in any of the past city council races in my home town, so I'll have to see how that goes. I am very optimistic really, because many people have Internet access and it's so much easier to check out some website than to go to some event. And it will be cold winter when the campaign will be at its height, so people won't want to leave their houses too much anyway.

Q: Realistically, what do you think are your chances of winning?

That is very hard to say. I think if I do a good campaign and get enough volunteers to support me, I have chance. But I am in no position whatsoever to take anything for granted. It's not going to be a wak, no mistake about it.

Q: Tell me what your party, the SPD (Sozial Demokratische Partei Deutschlands) stands for.

If I apply the US political system of coordinates, then the SPD would probably be compared to the Democratic Party, with all the caution that such a comparison between two parties demands. It is traditionally more the party of the working class, although this has changed a little bit in the past years, as the party is trying to get into the center of the political spectrum (where I personally have always been). It stresses the need for health-care for all, free education for all, and a system of social balance in which nobody is left behind. Families and low-income families are

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