It's official.

"L'HEURE EST AU RASSEMBLEMENT",
DIT SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL,
INVESTIE CANDIDATE DU PARTI SOCIALISTE
["THE HOUR IS WITH THE ASSEMBLY,"
SAYS SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL,
INVESTED CANDIDATE OF THE SOCIALISTS]

17 novembre 2006 (Le Monde/AFP) - Ségolène Royal a été désignée, jeudi 16 novembre, candidate du Parti socialiste (PS) pour la présidentielle de 2007, remportant largement dès le premier tour la primaire qui en fait la première femme avec une chance réelle d'accéder à la présidence de la République.

Mme Royal, 53 ans, a obtenu 60,62 % des suffrages, hors Antilles et Guyane, a annoncé vendredi peu avant 2 heures Stéphane Le Foll, directeur de cabinet de François Hollande et seul autorisé à donner des résultats officiels. La victoire au premier tour de la grande favorite était assurée dès avant minuit.

[Mlle. Royal:]

Je mesure le fait de recevoir cet élan, d'être choisie de cette façon là, c'est quelque chose d'extraordinaire. (...) Je vis intensément ce moment de bonheur... L'heure est au rassemblement.

ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD
French Socialists Look To The Right

[Thursday November 16, Ségolène Royal was designated the socialist Party's (PS) 2007 presidential candidate, broadly winning the first round of the election primary and making her the first woman with a real chance of reaching the presidency of the Republic.

Stéphane Le Foll, director of François Hollande's cabinet and alone authorized to give official results, announced Friday a little before 2 a.m., Mrs. Royal, 53, had 60.62 % of the vote, except for Antilles and Guyana. The victory in the first round for the big favorite was certain before midnight.

Mlle. Royal:

I measure the fact of receiving this enthusiasm, to be selected in this way, it is something quite extraordinary (...) I live this moment of happiness intensely... The hour is with the assembly.]

LE CAMP DSK SOUHAITE "BONNE CHANCE" À ROYAL
[THE STRAUSS-KAHN CAMP WISHES GOOD LUCK TO ROYAL]
17 novembre 2006 (Figaro/AFP)

FABIUSIENS ET STRAUSS-KAHNIENS, ENTRE RALLIEMENT ET DÉGOÛT
[FABIUSIENS AND STRAUSS-KAHNIENS, BETWEEN RALLYING AND DISGUST]
17 novembre 2006 (Le Monde/AFP/Reuters)

We congratulate Mlle. Royal on her impressive victory. Though this is no small win, still it is a win amongst the Socialist faithful. Winning over the better part of France will be something altogether different.

Mlle. Royal did not run a great campaign. She dodged the tricky questions, portraying herself as some sort of political handmaiden to les Français, who Mlle. Royal thinks to listen to carefully and then do as they say. Which is so much hooey to avoid laying out detailed policy.

To dismiss Mlle. Royal as a featherhead though is a mistake, as the opposition camps discovered. People who reach the rarified ranks of national politics may be many things, but stupid -- in a practical sense -- is not one of them. Such people have concocted believable but largely empty rhetoric that appeals to large numbers of people. They have persuaded these large numbers of people to pony up gobs of money and votes to advance the politicians' own careers.

Mlle. showed great skill in marshalling her assests -- novelty, little political baggage, policy obscurity, and bikinitude -- into a credible presidential bid, all on a throwaway remark to Paris Match last fall and all in the space of a year. Career politicians prepare their whole lives to assay what Mlle. Royal has accomplished in a trice.

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