Market intelligence
08/04/07 15:11 Filed in: France
Campaigns were out in force in the market this
morning, banging pamphlets into the hands of
passers-by.
M. Sakozy had the most numbers out, Madame Royal's campaign looks the most professional and creative, and M Bayrou's was easily the most visible and energetic, with cheery smiles and bright orange shirts.
To a political communications strategist like, say, me, the campaigns with only days to go before a vote look moronic. They are all handing out multi-page booklets. Well who the hell is going to read them? They should be handing out materials focused sharply on their political advantage. None were.
Bayrou is fading. His campaign literature is dull. His supporters have that vacuous cheery grin of time-share sales stalls.
Le Pen's campaign was absent from the square, even though his polling approaches the levels of the leading three. Not surprising. Our market is the centre of one of only two electorates in France to have voted Yes! on the Euro constitution, whereas Le Pen is a belligerent racist prick and a holocaust celebrator.
Sarkozy's turn-out is not surprising. This is a rich area next to the township Neuilly where he made his political start as mayor at age 28. His campaign materials are diabolically bad. Dated, staid and uninspired. Analysts suspect he is getting some Le Pen support in polls that will switch away from him to the oink in the privacy of the voting booth. If that happens then Ségolene Royal will finish first and enter a run-off against Sarko - though she is still expected to lose the run-off section.
In recent weeks I have heard both negative and positive Royal comments increase. While the buffoonish right-wing press continue to hype Sarkozy (and soft-pedal Le Pen) and write in cartoonish slogans (Charles Bremner is a world-class tit) the election is no longer a referendum on Sarkozy. Royal has surged back by firing her socialist party machine and reverting to the casual insurgency that stormed France last year.
Who actually knows what either would do? Their campaign policies are either unbelievable or trite. Sarko, for example raves about immigrants fitting into French culture and speaks of headscarves in the same breath as female circumcision. Excuse me? His slogan - together, change is possible - is slick.
Ségolene has one I might steal somewhere: Respect for all, progress for each.
Not bad, eh?
M. Sakozy had the most numbers out, Madame Royal's campaign looks the most professional and creative, and M Bayrou's was easily the most visible and energetic, with cheery smiles and bright orange shirts.
To a political communications strategist like, say, me, the campaigns with only days to go before a vote look moronic. They are all handing out multi-page booklets. Well who the hell is going to read them? They should be handing out materials focused sharply on their political advantage. None were.
Bayrou is fading. His campaign literature is dull. His supporters have that vacuous cheery grin of time-share sales stalls.
Le Pen's campaign was absent from the square, even though his polling approaches the levels of the leading three. Not surprising. Our market is the centre of one of only two electorates in France to have voted Yes! on the Euro constitution, whereas Le Pen is a belligerent racist prick and a holocaust celebrator.
Sarkozy's turn-out is not surprising. This is a rich area next to the township Neuilly where he made his political start as mayor at age 28. His campaign materials are diabolically bad. Dated, staid and uninspired. Analysts suspect he is getting some Le Pen support in polls that will switch away from him to the oink in the privacy of the voting booth. If that happens then Ségolene Royal will finish first and enter a run-off against Sarko - though she is still expected to lose the run-off section.
In recent weeks I have heard both negative and positive Royal comments increase. While the buffoonish right-wing press continue to hype Sarkozy (and soft-pedal Le Pen) and write in cartoonish slogans (Charles Bremner is a world-class tit) the election is no longer a referendum on Sarkozy. Royal has surged back by firing her socialist party machine and reverting to the casual insurgency that stormed France last year.
Who actually knows what either would do? Their campaign policies are either unbelievable or trite. Sarko, for example raves about immigrants fitting into French culture and speaks of headscarves in the same breath as female circumcision. Excuse me? His slogan - together, change is possible - is slick.
Ségolene has one I might steal somewhere: Respect for all, progress for each.
Not bad, eh?
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