Minor nitpick: the story of the miralce victory of the Red-Green government in the 2002 German elections was a bit different. Before the August flood and standing up to Dubya in 2002, Schröder was still popular (even if not as popular as just before elections) - but not his party. There was a strange disconnect back then, Schröder was such a father figure that tha blame for all his errors in leadership were diverted on others by the public. To underline the case, here is the 22.07.2002 (pre-flood, pre-Iraq-split) cover of DER SPIEGEL:

The title means "Schröder's Last Man", meant is that he himself is his last man to count on in pulling off victory. A final addition: Iraq and flood were enough only to pull even with the opposition, what brought the final percentages was Schröder's crushing of rival Stoiber in a lousy TV debate. (Lousy because style trumped substance, Stoiber's failure was basically to let himself come across nerdish while Schröder radiated self-confidence... now maybe that has some relevance to the present French elections...)

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}