le débat

(K met Maureen Dowd last night at the Times' Paris bureau. He's got the hookup. I am jealous.)

So the debate watching party went well. We started out with 18 people, of whom maybe 66.67% spoke French, and by 10pm, an hour into the debate, were down to 9 people, all but one of whom spoke French. There was food and wine and the company was, of course, stellar, but I've never seen people concentrate so hard on a TV before. (Except maybe during Grey's Anatomy, but that's a whole other level of viewing.)

I think I understood most of it. Ludo, a French friend of Harry's and the only eligible voter in the room, explained some of the more obsure things to me, like the 15 minute argument about nuclear power, which I still don't really get but put on a convincing show of nodding my head and murmuring, "Ah, oui, oui, je vois."

As "Matin Plus," the morning métro paper, says, Royale was on the offensive for most of the evening, and Sarkozy displayed a capability and collectiveness (as well as an ability not to speak like a robot) that his opponent just couldn't match. It was, as expected a heated debate: at one point, Royale accused Sarkozy of "political immorality" and told him he lacked "credibility." Sarkozy, on the other hand, delivered some zingers at socialist Royale, such as, "Calm down. If you want to be President, you have to be able to be calm." It was kind of amazing.

Anyway, after the debate, Ludo, Acha, and Henri, our French delagation, discussed the hot points. I contributed by asking stupid questions, Rob jumped in with poli sci and IR awesomeness (I was very proud of him; he really knew what he was talking about), and Harry pledged everlasting love to Sarkozy (I can't believe I'm dating another conservative! This is bad.).