IHMO, if the Left Party wants to gain a following in the West they'll basically have to do do two things: Make sure the old PDS label does not taint them, as it will definitely be used against them by the other party.  Secondly, they'll have to better get their message out.  They are at a disadvantage compared to the other parties, precisely because the WASG is not actually are party - that means no local infrastructure and no money from the tax-payers although the PDS will likely take care of that.

The other parties are anxious about the Left Party for two reasons I guess:

• CDU and FDP: They don't have to fear that potential voters will switch as they are at the opposite end of the spectrum (excluding the far right).  However, if the Left Party passes the 5% hurdle and makes it into the Bundestag it is more likely that CDU and FDP won't have the numbers to form a coalition.  In this case, the CDU and SPD would form what is usually called a Great Coalition here and the FDP would be out.

• SPD and Greens: The Left Party will probably gain a lot of voters from the SPD and since the Greens are dependant on the SPD they don't like that as well.

Finally, as to the CDU, they're unelectable in my book, for various reasons.  Far too socially conservative for my liking.  They also plan to continue giving incentives to business at the expense of social programs which hasn't worked so far.  Finally, if the 2002 election had gone differently, Germany would now be involved in the Iraq war.

However, my views on various parties are very unspecific right now, I'm basically following my gut.  By now all parties have their program finished and I'll try to make some time to take a better look.