French election fever kicking in

I can't believe that the presidential election is still a year away because it seems like every magazine cover and newspaper has a story about either Sarkozy or Royal. Right now there is a funny (from my perspective, at least) cover story that is plastered all over newsstands right now of Sarkozy and his wife who seemed to be living apart only months ago. The photo reminds me of those cheesy 70s TV commercials for really bad albums offering collections of love songs, with the couple holding hands and looking out at god knows what. Now that Royal is actually delivering a message and moving to the center, center-right, Sarkozy has to be worried that his coronation is not quite there, yet.

Two months ago I thought it would be Sarko in a landslide because the Socialists were just so far removed from today and they had no plan. Today, this is looking like a serious race and could be won by either. Sarko was moving to the right before to grab as many votes away from Le Pen as possible but now that Royal is making a land grab for the middle, it is going to be interesting to see where Sarko goes. Both candidates look like they're ready to move on and tackle issues such as economic growth and having flexibility in the system so that France can better compete on the world stage.