Lost in the City

I'm not known to be overly optimistic... not that I'm pessimistic, sincerily... I'm just realistic most of the time. ;-) So why would I be optimistic about the outcome of our presidential election, tell me?

The campaign is drawing to a close, with the first round of the election taking place on Sunday (we always vote on Sundays in France). I have been as involved in the campaign as I could be, keeping myself informed of course, and leafleting in my neighborhood mornings, evenings and quite a few weekends. It is now pretty obvious that Sarkozy, the right-wing guy, will make it to the second round. At this point I'm not even sure the left wing will make it. Segolene Royal does have an advantage in the polls... but it's a small one, so who knows. We might end up with a second round opposing Sarkozy and Bayrou, meaning respectively: a socially-conservative-and-economically-liberal candidate and a moderate (but still...) right-wing candidate. That would be the second time in two elections that the left doesn't make it past the first round. Tough ...and telling as to the state of the nation. And I'm not even talking about the nightmare scenario that would have Sarkozy up against the far-right candidate Le Pen on round two. What happened to my country? I wonder.

Okay, more on that later. It's time to get some rest now.