In its first months, the long-awaited dream coalition with her FDP partners was a sheer disaster for Chancellor Angela Merkel. The survey numbers were in the basement, and the press was scathing.Then a number of CDU heavyweights began leaving the political stage. So who in the party is left to back Merkel up, or follow in her footsteps? At the moment there are three possible candidates: Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, Ursula von der Leyen and Norbert Röttgen.