France's Le Pen: Longshot Political Bid

French far right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, right, sings the French national anthem with his daughter Marine, left, during a far right meeting in Lille, northern France, Sunday Feb. 25, 2007. Jean-Marie Le Pen's far right National Front party rallied thousands Sunday around his pledges to halt immigration, pull France out of NATO and slash taxes if he becomes the nation's next president. (AP Photo/ Michel Spingler) (Michel Spingler - AP)

LILLE, France -- France's crusader of the far right, who rallied flag-waving followers at a National Front party congress Sunday, is making his sixth long-shot bid for France's presidency.

The only question is, will voters this time be won over by Jean-Marie Le Pen's aggressively nationalist, anti-immigrant message?

Le Pen shocked France _ and much of Europe _ five years ago when he came in second behind President Jacques Chirac in the first round of voting in the presidential race. Le Pen lost decisively in the runoff, but his opponents seem concerned that he could pull off another upset in the polls.

Thousands of supporters gathered at the party congress here over the weekend to cheer Le Pen's pledges to halt immigration, bolster the military, pull France out of NATO, restore the death penalty and slash taxes.

But Le Pen is struggling to win the backing of 500 French elected officials, which he needs to earn a place on the ballot. Polls, meanwhile, show the 78-year-old politician in fourth place in the run-up to the first round of voting April 22.

He trails Nicolas Sarkozy of the ruling conservative party; Segolene Royal, a Socialist; and rising centrist Francois Bayrou.

Little of that seemed to matter to 2,000 supporters here Sunday, who greeted their champion by chanting and waving the tricolor flag.

"France for the French," Le Pen declared in a combative speech that closed the weekend congress. He praised France's "humble workers," lamented the loss of French military and industrial might, and lashed out at multinationals "where power rests with a few thousand analysts, traders and managers who have only one fatherland: money."

This "predatory capitalism," he said, encourages immigration, which he said is "the essential cause of general impoverishment."

Earlier, Le Pen said there is an organized effort by his opponents to dissuade mayors from backing him. But he struggles at each election to gather the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot.

Political observers say many mayors _ and voters _ support him in private but are reluctant to do so publicly.

As for his dismal showing in the polls, Le Pen likes to point out that pollsters failed to predict his startling success in 2002.