There are exactly two weeks to go before Germans go to the polls in a national election.
On Sunday evening Chancellor Angela Merkel squares up to her main rival Frank Walter Steinmeier in a live 90-minute TV debate.
Twenty million Germans are expected to watch the encounter.
Opinion polls ahead of the duel suggest that Mrs Merkel's centre-right bloc will get enough votes in the election to allow her to remain chancellor.
Mr Steinmeier has his work cut out to ensure that, at the very least, his Social Democratic Party stays on as junior partner in the government.
Ally to adversary
On the face of it, Merkel v Steinmeier does not make for gripping television.
First, neither of the candidates for chancellor is known for being particularly charismatic or telegenic.
But, more crucially, even though the two political heavyweights are fighting it out now, for the last four years they have been rubbing shoulders in the cabinet room.
Their parties have been sharing power and responsibility in a grand coalition - taking joint decisions on everything from health care reform to how to tackle the financial crisis.
That is why landing political punches on each other live on TV will not be easy. But that is exactly what Mr Steinmeier must do. And fast.
His Social Democratic Party is languishing in the polls - surveys suggest the SDP is at least 12% behind Mrs Merkel's centre-right bloc.
Mrs Merkel benefits from being the chancellor right now.
She is best placed to take the credit for everything that has gone right recently for Germany, like the country exiting recession, and General Motors agreeing to sell Opel to the Canadian car parts supplier Magna - the very deal the German government had been seeking.
Mrs Merkel is hoping that after the election, she will be able to ditch Mr Steinmeier's SPD as junior partner, and form a new government with the FDP - the pro-business Free Democrats.
Source: BBC/Europe
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