While Ms Royal promises to drive France off the European cliff, Mr Sarkozy is doing his best to accelerate that journey.
While the French may be a little disoriented at present, they are not collectively stupid. Mr Bayrou appears to be more presidential than his opponents simply because he is a lot less extreme - both in terms of his personality and his political position. Two of the main qualities of success in a president are character and judgment. The French must be wondering about the political judgment of the candidates, their simplistic promises, their unfunded election promises and the constant opportunistic repositioning from left to right and back again.

But is lack of extremism going to be sufficient for Mr Bayrou to pull through right to the end?