Gotta love media spin. Popped over to the FAZ (excellent but very conservative daily for those unfamiliar with Germany). This is how they describe the situation:

title: Red Green voted out, no majority black green - ok fair enough.

The Union has become the strongest political force in the Bundestag but according to projections failed to reach its 2002 total. The SPD lost a lot of ground...

All true of course. But the big news on this electoral evening is the stunningly poor performance of the Union.