This morning’s BBCA TV newscast had a report on how the French are polling cats and dogs. Apparently dogs favor Sarko, cats favor Sego. No word at all on what sector of the fauna favors Bayrou. The dog featured in the report was named Ernest Hemingway, which added a little literary flavor.
Both The Economist and The Wall Street Journal have articles on the Chirac legacy and what went wrong. Both notice how each of the three leading candidates to succeed Chirac is standing on an anti-Chirac platform.
Denis Boyles at National Review, however, finds a deleterious effect on Sarkozy,
The other tearful political moment of the week was Dominique de Villepin’s confession on national radio-captured here by Liberation – that he was endorsing Sarkozy. The tears were Sarko’s because the impact was immediate: Less than 24 hours after getting Villepin’s endorsement, Sarkozy had dropped a point-and-a-half in the polls. It’s taken him all week just to stop the slide.
And last, but not least, on Wednesday the New York Times reported that Le Pen had gathered the requisite signatures to make it to the ballots.
Cross-posted at France24
