Sex and Politics, a la Francaise

But Sarkozy fought back. In a departure from politics-as-usual here, he acknowledged to broadcast interviewers that there was trouble in a marriage he wanted to save -- and then shut up. The French media recently reported that the Sarkozys have reconciled.

But Villepin and Sarkozy soon locked horns in the media again when the respected daily newspaper Le Monde splashed sensational accounts of a secret inquiry by a government intelligence agent into kickbacks and bribes supposedly laundered through Clearstream accounts. The agent, who reported outside his chain of command directly to the prime minister, obtained a list of accounts with code names. Two of the names were meant to be easily linked to Sarkozy.

An inquiring magistrate quickly established that the accounts meant to be traced to Sarkozy never existed. They were inserted on an authentic list of accounts -- by operatives close to Villepin, according to Le Monde and other news reports.

Villepin and Chirac deny any involvement in the attempts to smear the interior minister. But the disorder of the Clearstream affair, now being investigated for possible criminal activity, appears to have derailed Villepin's candidacy.

Polls now show that only Royal, the Socialist, could beat Sarkozy if the election were held today. She has surged ahead of the "elephants," as the more familiar male Socialist would-be candidates are known, by espousing a program of family values and spotlighting her experience in setting family policy. She ignited controversy within the party this spring by saying she would like to emulate British Prime Minister Tony Blair and adopt New Labor-style reforms.

Royal also grabbed headlines by suggesting that juvenile delinquents should be exposed to a military environment to correct their misdeeds and by saying that their parents should receive schooling on family discipline. She has been adept enough not to explain either of these socially muscular, controversial ideas in detail. But like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Royal is determined to show no weakness in occupying the electorally profitable center in a party dominated by left-leaning activists -- including party leader Francois Hollande, her common-law husband and father of their four children. His campaign has withered as hers has bloomed, apparently affecting their relationship.

The toothpaste is now out of the French privacy tube: Marital and family problems that were shunted off to a satirical, quasi-investigative weekly tabloid now glitter in the mainstream media. (See the handling of Francois Mitterrand's illegitimate daughter while he was president.) The same is true of the Clearstream scandal. These changes have been taking shape gradually over the years. But they surface with new force in the unsteady fin de reign that grips France. France's elite faces a time when, as Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci said in other circumstances, the old is dying, the new is not yet born and in the interim morbid phenomena appear.

jimhoagland@washpost.com

Jim Hoagland is an associate editor and columnist for The Washington Post.