Royal awaits 'bounce' from TV performance Analysts said Ms Royal's [show on TF1] was a "good performance" that could mark a turning point for her troubled campaign. But Ms Royal is still in a precarious position, experts say. If her candidacy keeps losing ground in opinion polls, she could suffer the same fate as Lionel Jospin, the last socialist candidate for the presidency, who finished a humiliating third in 2002 behind a "dark horse" outsider. This time, however, instead of losing to Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party, Ms Royal is in danger of finishing behind François Bayrou, the candidate of the centrist UDF party, dubbed "le Béarnais" for his Pyrenees roots, who is gaining ground in the polls. "Everything is possible for the Bayrou phenomenon. He has positioned himself in the centre ground, which is where many French people are finding themselves," says Stéphane Rozès, director of the CSA polling group and professor at Sciences Po university in Paris. (...) This week would be crucial for Ms Royal - to find out if her solid performance on Monday night prompts a bounce in the polls, according to Mr Rozès. But she also needed to put an end to the series of gaffes and internal party bickering that have plagued her campaign. (...) Ms Royal will also present her reshuffled campaign team tomorrow.
Analysts said Ms Royal's [show on TF1] was a "good performance" that could mark a turning point for her troubled campaign.
But Ms Royal is still in a precarious position, experts say. If her candidacy keeps losing ground in opinion polls, she could suffer the same fate as Lionel Jospin, the last socialist candidate for the presidency, who finished a humiliating third in 2002 behind a "dark horse" outsider.
This time, however, instead of losing to Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party, Ms Royal is in danger of finishing behind François Bayrou, the candidate of the centrist UDF party, dubbed "le Béarnais" for his Pyrenees roots, who is gaining ground in the polls.
"Everything is possible for the Bayrou phenomenon. He has positioned himself in the centre ground, which is where many French people are finding themselves," says Stéphane Rozès, director of the CSA polling group and professor at Sciences Po university in Paris.
(...)
This week would be crucial for Ms Royal - to find out if her solid performance on Monday night prompts a bounce in the polls, according to Mr Rozès. But she also needed to put an end to the series of gaffes and internal party bickering that have plagued her campaign.
Ms Royal will also present her reshuffled campaign team tomorrow.
Lots of unnamed experts and lots of unfriendly "ifs" In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Funny how this is not seen as a gaffe, or as bickering, especially coming at a time of falling polls, and a resurgent Royal. Mmmmm In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Not panic in the face of failure.
I don't know who you are, but apparently you don't get it.
