Nicolas Sarkozy survived last night’s French presidential debate. Opinion seems divided on who actually won but Sarko didn’t throw it away, as many feared he would, by flying off the handle. Ségolène Royal kept trying to rile him, to get him to display the side of his personality that scares so many voters yet Sarkozy stayed studiously calm. He even got in a shot at Royal for being too quick to anger. The result: a draw–which is almost certainly good enough for Sarkozy who is up by about 4 points in every poll.
What struck me most, though, were the viewing figures: 20 million plus for a two and a half hour debate. How many would tune in for Brown versus Cameron?
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