Asked for his coalition preferences, and confronted with a four-year old preference for the CDA, Rutte replied that he has no idea yet because he hasn’t seen the CDA’s programme yet, “only a leaflet.” He also warned that in the current state of affairs a vote for the CDA would mean a vote for the PvdA: with the PvdA (apparently) clearly on the left, and the CDA vaguely in the middle, a PvdA+CDA coalition would execute the PvdA programme.

This is an obvious line of attack, and it might even work. The CDA is in deep, deep trouble, and it’s being attacked by both left and right, mainly on its vagueness. And its eternal leadership problems haven’t been solved; voters are clearly tired of Balkenende and rate him below Cohen and Rutte when it comes to the prime-ministership.

The beauty is that Cohen can launch exactly the same attack. Cooperate with the CDA? I don’t know what it stands for. And I’m warning you, a vote for the CDA means a vote for the VVD. Etc. etc.

Still, Rutte has the edge here. The average CDA voter is right-wing, and for them the VVD is the natural alternative. Sure, an attack from the left might cause a few CDA seats to float to the left (or to the CU), but a VVD attack is much more worthwhile in terms of seats.

Anyway, the campaign has started in earnest, and VVD and PvdA are still attacking the CDA for all they’re worth. Who knows, they might even suck the christian-democrats dry. Would be an interesting development.

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Rutte attacks CDA

In an interview with the news site nu.nl VVD leader Rutte opened the attack on the CDA.

Asked for his coalition preferences, and confronted with a four-year old preference for the CDA, Rutte replied that he has no idea yet because he hasn’t seen the CDA’s programme yet, “only a leaflet.” He also warned that in the current state of affairs a vote for the CDA would mean a vote for the PvdA: with the PvdA (apparently) clearly on the left, and the CDA vaguely in the middle, a PvdA+CDA coalition would execute the PvdA programme.

This is an obvious line of attack, and it might even work. The CDA is in deep, deep trouble, and it’s being attacked by both left and right, mainly on its vagueness. And its eternal leadership problems haven’t been solved; voters are clearly tired of Balkenende and rate him below Cohen and Rutte when it comes to the prime-ministership.

The beauty is that Cohen can launch exactly the same attack. Cooperate with the CDA? I don’t know what it stands for. And I’m warning you, a vote for the CDA means a vote for the VVD. Etc. etc.

Still, Rutte has the edge here. The average CDA voter is right-wing, and for them the VVD is the natural alternative. Sure, an attack from the left might cause a few CDA seats to float to the left (or to the CU), but a VVD attack is much more worthwhile in terms of seats.

Anyway, the campaign has started in earnest, and VVD and PvdA are still attacking the CDA for all they’re worth. Who knows, they might even suck the christian-democrats dry. Would be an interesting development.

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