Polls heavily pointing towards Sarkozy victory on Sunday

The debate on Wednesday night was not the winning performance that Royal desperately needed to catch right wing candidate Sarkozy. Sego arrived on Wednesday down by a significant margin and the most puzzling moment of the night was her decision to make her mark was on the subject of assisting the handicapped. I am quite aware of such problems in France as I have a family member who struggled due to the archaic policies that offer very little (the US clearly has more advanced programs across the board for special needs people) but if you are losing beyond the margin of error, you need to reach out to enough people and pick your subject where you will shine. Her decision to stake her future on this subject while running for the President of the Republic, was strange.

Also strange is the culture war overtones of the Sarkozy campaign who wants to battle against the images of the May 1968 revolt. Haven't we seen this battle before in the US? I'm less impressed with arguments against Sarko because of his "American-style" policies because I can see the benefits and downsides to both systems.

At a high level, it's refreshing to hear a candidate such as Sego talk about optimism and love. A bit corny, but still, compared to the doom, gloom and fear from the other side, I appreciate it. If only she could have developed actual ideas and avoided putting her foot in her mouth so often. So unless something dramatic happens, the world will get to know Sarkozy after Sunday. Will he be as scary and brutal as many here fear?

Meanwhile, the final installment of France 2007 political jokes, this time, poking fun at Sego and her countless gaffes. "Boulettes" can be either meatballs or bloopers, so in this case, the couscous Royal is full of bloopers and the subtitle says "with a chickpea in the head". I still say the anti-Sarko jokes are funnier but that is what's out there.

So now that Bush's best friend and subservient little lapdog Blair leaves, it looks as though he has a new friend coming into the scene who is not afraid to be seen with him. Lucky, lucky.