Oskar Lafontaine was one of Germany's most prominent politicians. He was a minister in one of Chancellor Schröder's first cabinets and once headed the Social Democrat Party. In 1999, he stepped down in protest against Schröder's policies and moved out of the public eye. But now he wants to get back into the German parliament, the Bundestag, this time as one of the top candidates of a leftist alliance. He's demanding that the country's social welfare system be maintained and is anything but a member of what some describe as the neo-liberal mainstream. His supporters are happy that they've finally got someone to fight their corner. Opponents criticise him, saying that he is even prepared to use populist xenophobic rhetoric to win votes. Yet pollsters say that Lafontaine's popularity could earn him as much as 10 percent of the vote.