Free Republic

In French politics the squeeze to keep Marine Le Pen from reaching the second round of the presidential election continues. It started with the entry of outspoken Tucker Carlson type TV pundit Eric Zemmour into the race. His outspoken views on Islam and crime drawing supporters away from Marine Le Pen. Zemmour even drew a few National Rally activists who formerly supported Le Pen into his ranks. Then the mainstream "Right" put a female candidate Valerie Pecresse into the race. Pecresse leads the large Ile-de-France region in and around Paris.... Now yesterday a new blow to Marine Le Pen came...

Another day, another diplomatic headache for Ségolène Royal. This time, though, the blunder lasted 11 minutes and came courtesy of a professional prankster. Gérald Dahan, an imitator known for his phone hoaxes of public figures, fooled the French Socialist presidential candidate into believing she was talking to Quebec premier Jean Charest. The stunt compounded a comment Ms Royal made earlier in the week in which she appeared to call for independence for Canada's mainly French-speaking Quebec province, provoking an unusually strong rebuke from the Canada's prime minister. It also exacerbated a bad week for Ms Royal and provided more ammunition...