Delanoé was the big loser of the congress last week, with his "motion" unable to distance the others, and even beaten by Royal, and he threaw in his support behind Aubry.
Aubry worries me because of the support of the old-school elephants: Fabius (PM in 84-86), Jospin (PM in 97-02) and I'm not sure she'll put an end to the infighting.
Royal is likely to try impose her authority on the party, but many of the elephants absolutely hate her, and the confrontatino is unpredictable. Her personal, charismatic style is also not my favorite.
I don't really mind either, and only hope that they can impose order in the party. Maybe Royal is slightly better in that respect. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
The first secretary is the most visible spokesperson of the party, and has lots of internal procedural powers (including on designation of candidates during various elections) In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Last year, this "tradition" was broken: Francois Hollande didn't seek the role; several candidates ran in a PS primary and Segolène Royal was selected to run opposing Nicolas Sarkozy.
Conventional wisdom is that Royal wants to lead the party to support another run against Sarkozy in 2012. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
He went in freefall last winter when he had his whirlwind romance with Bruni, and a bump this summer with his whirlwind of diplomatic activity (with the war in Georgia, notably).
This is an average of 9 polls, from here In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
As soon as they started talking politics they lost huge numbers and the popularity of the government surged. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
A european party tends to be one organisation - divided into different suborganisations, but still one organisation. The party leader is the president of the organisation. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
