Okay, we get the idea, Sarkozy's short.

The debates between Sarkozy and Ségolène went down last Wednesday night. I was able to watch a decent amount of it, though it was at Claire's uncle's birthday party in the midst of several loud conversations and rude insults hollered at Ségolène Royal by her overwhelmingly Sarkoziste family and thus my understanding was far from complete.

I have to say, however, that the debate seemed pretty exciting and more animated than most American debates I have seen. Candidates aren't given time limits on questions, and I felt it was more like a discussion/argument between the candidates than just an interview by the journalist mediating the affair, like it sometimes feels like in the U.S. Anyways, there was some lively interchange. Ségolène held her own and probably did more attacking than Sarkozy, but overall the day-after spin was that neither candidate gained a lot of ground. If anybody is interested in seeing the highlights, you can check out this video from LeMonde.fr.

Which means that if the polls hold, Sarkozy should be the next president of France. I've received a bunch of joke Emails like this one (subject: "voici ce qui va bientot être dans toutes les mairies!" = Here's what's going to soon be in all of our city halls) poking fun at Sarko's height. Much like government buildings and VA hospitals in the U.S., the French always put up a picture of their leader and president to greet passersby.

But who knows...perhaps Ségo stands a fighting chance. We'll know the answers by Sunday night.



French for the Day: an expression I learned today (since somebody in the lab is getting married tomorrow, and it started pouring down torrential rain ever since this afternoon): "mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux". It is translated as "rainy marriage, happy marriage", similar to the way we say in English that it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day.