Sarko Comes in 2nd

This is the first time since the 1950s that a sitting president of France has not gotten the most votes in the 1^st round of elections since the founding of the 5^th Republic:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is wooing far-right voters after losing narrowly to his Socialist rival in the presidential election's first round.

Francois Hollande came top with 28.6% and Mr Sarkozy got 27.1% - the first time a sitting president has lost in the first round.

Third-place Marine Le Pen took the largest share of the vote her far-right National Front has ever won, with 18%.

Referring to her voters, Mr Sarkozy said: "I have heard you."

"There was this crisis vote that doubled from one election to another - an answer must be given to this crisis vote," he said.

So, "President Bling-Bling" is going to go right-wing populist racist in the hopes of getting nearly all of Marine Le Pen's National Front knuckle draggers, because the neither the Left Front and the Democratic Movement voters are receptive to a xenophobic message.

I don't think that it's going to work, because Sarkozy is clearly Angela Merkel's toady in European politics, and the defacto German hegemony in the Euro Zone is something that French populists of both the left and right cannot abide.

About all Sarkozy has going for him is that he's more stylish than the rather colorless Hollande, but it will be a long shot for him on the May 6 runoff.

Sarkosy knows this, which is why he is trying to up the number of debates between the two finalsts to 3 from the usual 1.