Star-spangled Tricolor waves to lure the voters

PARIS - Groomed, shoulder-padded and heavily made-up, with a patriotic backdrop behind and baying supporters in front, the presidential hopeful looks into the eye of the camera and reels off the ultimate soundbite.

As the ovation thunders out, the pol slickly wipes a tear from his eye, totters into the embrace of a couple of celebrities and then works the crowd, pressing outstretched palms as the TV crews and photographers do their stuff.

No, it wasn't George W. Bush. Nor did this scene take place in the United States.

It happened in France - the land of Voltaire, Racine, Diderot, Hugo, the country that likes to pride itself on serious political debate, on honest dissection of ideas, on a political culture based on style, not substance.

To the dismay of many, American-style campaigning, with its branding, focus groups, setpiece encounters and emphasis on values rather than policies, has put its stamp on the race to become the next French head of state.

More than eight months are left before the two-round presidential election takes place, but candidates and would-be candidates, from left, right and centre, seem determined to follow the example of politics across the Atlantic.

The presidential hopeful in the TV studio was Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who last weekend used a conference of the governing conservative party, the Union for a Popular Majority (UMP), to showcase his universally expected but undeclared election bid.

In the stage-managed event, a huge crowd of young UMP supporters, some waving tricolor flags and others wearing party T-shirts, chanting "Sarkozy for President" as he made his entry.

Sarkozy's speech was big on buzzwords - "a new humanism", "a new French model", "reinventing the republic" - and repeated 64 times the words "I propose". But it was short on detail.

At his side were Johnny Hallyday - the veteran rock star regarded as France's version of Elvis Presley - and popular black rapper Doc Gyneco.

"It's classic marketing strategy," says Denis Muzet, president of a thinktank called the Observatory of Public Debate.

"The reasoning behind this is 'I am Johnny Hallyday's friend, you love Johnny, so you are going to love me'." All the major commercial brands have been doing this for years.

Hallyday, who has been a star since the early 1960s and has a huge army of fans, represents trust and continuity among the general public, says Muzet.

Doc Gyneco is a clever pitch to disaffected urban youth, thus softening Sarkozy's image as being tough on immigrant kids who rioted last year.

Sarkozy's celebrity bash grabbed the headlines and the airwaves the following day, raising predictable howls from the left that his showbiz approach had dangerously dumbed down French politics.

But such criticism rings hollow, for almost everyone is doing the same thing.

The centre-right Union of French Democracy (UDF) last weekend staged a mass rally for its leader, Francois Bayrou, whose speech - made before the now-obligatory throng of cheering T-shirted youngsters - squeezed in references to Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Delors, Simon Veil and Jean-Jaures, and a host of other famous French politicians from almost the entire spectrum.

The opposition Socialist Party, which will select its presidential candidate in November, has been torn apart by the bid of Segolene Royal to become the first woman in the Elysee Palace.

Royal's exquisitely-tailored suits, suave manner and politics-lite soundbites have put her far ahead in the opinion polls over Lionel Jospin, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Laurent Fabius and Jack Lang.

Compared with the fresh-faced, telegenic Royal, all the men are gnarled veterans of smoke-filled rooms and debating chambers of old, where ideas were fought, manifestos were hammered out and alliances were sealed.

The older generation of Socialists may quietly revile Royal for lacking substance, yet they are also clearly impressed by the success of her marketing technique.

The nationwide television channel France 2 plans to get in on the act next month, with a debate between all the party's presidential candidates.

"It will be an American-style debate, in which each will respond to the same questions, with a strictly equal time allotted for reply," said the channel's news director, Arlette Chabot.

"It won't be a confrontational format or a one-on-one."

Muzet is repelled by the trend.

"We are now living in a time when there is no more deciphering of ideology or reasoning," he said.

"It's all image, delivering a meaning which the media consumer doesn't have to bother to read or understand.

"It's a further step towards American-style communications, based on image and the imaginary."

RIVALS ON THE RIGHT

Dominique De Villepin

A year ago, the Prime Minister had established himself as the most serious threat to Sarkozy's presidential ambitions. But a fiasco over youth labour law reform wrecked his poll ratings and destroyed a carefully crafted consensual image, all but killing his unspoken goal of joining the 2007 election race.

Jean-Louis Borloo

As Labour Minister, his successful drive to cut unemployment has raised his profile. That firmly established him in the social wing of the mainstream right and his recent rapprochement with the leader of the Union for a Popular Movement has sparked talk of a Sarkozy-Borloo "ticket", the latter serving as Prime Minister to a President Sarkozy. Well regarded by voters, he may stand should Sarkozy not run in 2007.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan

Hostile to what he sees as the EU's tendency to take decisions over the head of member states, Dupont-Aignan, 45, led those within the Union for a Popular Movement who opposed the party's support for the European Union constitution, which French voters rejected in 2005. Could run even if the party backs Sarkozy but his chances are microscopic.

Michele Alliot-Marie

An outsider for the 2007 vote, she has a track record of beating males for tough posts and doing the job competently. She took over the UMP's precursor, the RPR, after its meltdown in 1999 European elections. Now Defence Minister, she believes she could provide a credible alternative to voters turned off by Sarkozy's style and pro-market reformist zeal.

Christine Boutin

A staunch Catholic with conservative views on abortion and homosexuality, Boutin, 62, fought tooth and nail against a 1999 law that gave unmarried and gay couples certain legal rights in common with married heterosexuals.

- REUTERS