France:President Jacques Chirac rises before dawn to read the newspapers, then listens to the breakfast radio programmes.
He must have felt he was witnessing his own political funeral yesterday, reading the commentaries on his "testament" of the previous evening, and the special supplements chronicling his 40 years in public office, the last 12 as president of France.
Among the most quoted eulogies was Laurent Joffrin's article in Libérationnewspaper. "Jacques Chirac was the Don Juan of politics," Mr Joffrin wrote. "He spent his life conquering the highest positions, but once he had seized his prey, he didn't know what to do with it. He seduced France, but he did not make her happy."
There was even an official mourner, Mr Chirac's failed anointed heir, the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, whose career may well terminate with Mr Chirac's.
"A whole chapter of my life is ending," Mr de Villepin told journalists, with tears in his eyes, before going on air at Europe 1 radio station.
Mr de Villepin has been Mr Chirac's most faithful aide since they met 27 years ago. He served him as secretary-general of the Élysée Palace from 1995 until 2002, then as minister of foreign affairs, interior minister and prime minister.
"I know that Jacques Chirac is a good man; a man who takes the right decision," Mr de Villepin said, his voice breaking with emotion. "I knew that he would leave in the force of action, in the force of his engagement. I knew he would not do one term too many . . . I already miss him."
For years, Chirac and de Villepin schemed to halt the inexorable rise of Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Chirac wanted de Mr Villepin - not Mr Sarkozy - to succeed him. The prime minister said he would not support any presidential candidate until Mr Chirac made his intentions known. Yesterday, Mr de Villepin rallied to Mr Sarkozy.
"Today I am with Nicolas Sarkozy to defend the ideas of our political family," Mr de Villepin said. It must have been like swallowing vinegar. "I shall be at his side," he continued, "because that is the political ideal of my family, my commitment. We have been together in government. We will be together in this battle."
Meanwhile, on another radio station, France Inter, Mr Sarkozy praised his erstwhile rival's experience and said he valued his support.
"It is a dignified personal choice, because he too could have had ambitions," he added.
There is no doubt, the right-wing newspaper Le Figaropredicted, that Mr Chirac will ultimately support Mr Sarkozy.
The Élysée said yesterday that the president would make his opinion known after March 19th, when the constitutional council decides which candidates have qualified for the ballot.
Mr Chirac's warning about "the poison of racism" in his speech on Sunday night was interpreted as a message to Mr Sarkozy.
After chasing votes among workers and in the political centre, Mr Sarkozy veered back to the right with a speech on "order" and "authority" on February 23rd.
He has called on elected officials to help the extreme right-wing candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen obtain the 500 signatures required. Mr Sarkozy's promise to establish a ministry for immigration and national identity was praised by Mr Le Pen, but reportedly angered Mr Chirac.
Though Mr Sarkozy yesterday said he was "moved" by Mr Chirac's farewell, he earlier insinuated criticism of the president, in an interview published by the Journal du Dimanche.
If elected, he would do politics differently, Mr Sarkozy promised. "I will not prevaricate with the French. I will not lie to them. I will not betray them . . . so I am different from Jacques Chirac."
Six weeks before the first round of the presidential election, opinion polls continue to fluctuate. Although Mr Sarkozy still leads all projections for the first round, he lost four percentage points in a poll published at the weekend, putting the socialist Ségolène Royal and the centrist François Bayrou perilously close to him.
If Mr Bayrou makes it to the run-off, Mr Sarkozy predicted yesterday that he would call on the left to vote for him if he faced Mr Sarkozy and he would call on the right to vote for him if he confronted Ms Royal.
"What kind of conviction is that?" Mr Sarkozy asked.