Gabriel has the ambition, but methinks he would manage to push the SPD's numbers below that of the Greens and the Left Party...

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

God knows they need a new Münte, but now that they're out in the cold I think they could use a Lafontaine-like rabble-rouser more than they could a Steinmeier. I don't think being a party operative is a disadvantage right now - however moves into the party leadership right now will need to be able to build a secure base so that they can present themselves as the head of a unified party (something e.g. Beck never got). I guess together Nahles and Wowi would be a dream team.

Gabriel - I dunno. I've heard his standard speech as Environment Minister, and he is (was, now) intelligent enough to understand the problem of climate change and make it the core of his standard pitch (although he's too politically committed to coal to acknowledge the solution). But he's not stirring.

Besides, like Steinmeier and Steinbrück, he's an old Schröderite, and the IMO the SPD needs someone new if it's going to credibly rebuild.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

This I know. But there is a difference between giving someone a ride to the polling station, and encouraging them to vote by post.  Regardless, I think that there is likely a demographic bias to postal voting.

Does Germany have a "day of reflection", a day in which no campaigning takes places immediately prior to the election day?

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

Right.
I do remember some editorials and opinion pieces there which quite openly ridiculed its "mother", the FT.