Luck, courage and skillful handling of the media have won German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a comeback thought impossible last year when his welfare cuts plunged his party into a record series of regional election defeats and sparked talk of the "Twilight of the Chancellor." He has been helped by the economy, which pulled out of a three-year slump in 2004 with 1.7 percent growth, according to figures released last week. They coincided with a poll showing Mr. Schroeder's coalition of Social Democrats (at 35%) and Greens (10%) neck-and-neck with the opposition conservatives (38%)and liberals (7%) for the first time since late 2002...The article finishes with lots of details about Germany's internal politics, for those who are interested.