No, I think LePen's attacks will help Sarkozy by making him seem more moderate -- and the UMP  is happy about it. (LeMonde had a story to this effect last week.) Also, Sarkozy really wants to be sure he doesn't face BAyrou in the second round and he believes that, again based on LeMonde reporting, Bayrou and LePen are actually competing for some of the same protest votes; so Sarkozy wants LePen to pick these up in the first round - to keep Bayrou's score down.

That said, its important to keep in mind that both of the major parties, but especially the PS, are focused this week less on picking up Bayrou's voters (that will start Sunday night) on not seeing their "base" voters disperse to the "extremes" as happened in the final days to both Chirac and Jospin in 2002. (Thats why Holland got so upset at Rocard's overtures to Bayrou and why Royal is talking about "proletariot" today.)