FRANCE:After a marathon, two hour and 40 minute debate that ended at 11.40pm on Wednesday night, the French presidential candidates, Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, were back on the air by breakfast time yesterday.
Mr Sarkozy told RTL radio he was "a little surprised by a certain aggressiveness" on the part of Ms Royal. A few minutes later, on France Inter, Ms Royal said of Mr Sarkozy: "One has to accept to go through with a debate on ideas, and not pose as a victim."
Sud Ouest newspaper compared Ms Royal and Mr Sarkozy to "a scratching tigress and a tomcat". Le Parisien newspaper interviewed a behavioural specialist who said Ms Royal "hypnotised Nicolas Sarkozy. She stared at him. She transformed herself into a cobra."
"One thing is certain," said the editorial in La Montagne. "The successor of Jacques Chirac, whichever one it is, will have a helluva character."
Despite dire warnings by both sides, watching the debate one came away with the feeling that both could be better leaders than previously thought.
Most French commentators said the match was a draw, but a poll published by Opinionway for Le Figaro and LCI television - both of which favour Mr Sarkozy - found that 53 per cent of viewers said Mr Sarkozy won, against 31 per cent for Ms Royal and 16 per cent who said neither won or had no opinion.
Some 55 per cent of those interviewed by Opinionway said the heated exchange over the schooling of handicapped children was the most dramatic moment. The dispute, which lasted for eight minutes on live television, continued to make waves yesterday.
Ms Royal lost her temper after Mr Sarkozy promised an "enforceable right" to "normal" schooling for handicapped children. She had created a programme enabling them to attend school, which the right-wing government cancelled, she said.
"I don't know why Ms Royal, who is usually so calm, has lost her cool," Mr Sarkozy said twice.
Ms Royal said she was "angry about injustice, about the lie".
"I would never have allowed myself, Madame, to speak to you that way," Mr Sarkozy answered.
Ms Royal stuck to her guns, ignoring the television journalist who tried to steer the debate to another topic. "You get angry easily," Mr Sarkozy taunted her. "You lose your cool easily, Madame. The president of the republic is someone who has heavy, very heavy responsibilities."
"The difference between us is our vision of morality in politics," Ms Royal said, before telling Mr Sarkozy: "Don't be condescending!"
He accused her of "having the sectarian vision of the left: everyone who doesn't think exactly like you is obviously illegitimate".
Gilles de Robien, the minister of education, who is allied with Mr Sarkozy, yesterday accused Ms Royal of "incompetence" and "dishonesty" over the schooling of handicapped children. In fact, the right-wing government converted the youth jobs created by Ms Royal to provide assistance for handicapped children into contracts with the education ministry.
Vincent Assante, the president of the National Association for People with Motor Handicaps told Le Monde: "We are scandalised that the schooling of children was the deliberate object of a political joust."
Ms Royal's "contrived anger" was just as objectionable as Mr Sarkozy's "shrewdly expressed compassion", he said.
The centrist candidate, François Bayrou, who had said he would decide who to vote for after the debate, said he would not vote for Mr Sarkozy. But he did not specify whether he would vote blank or for Ms Royal.
"Everyone understood what he meant," Ms Royal said before her last rally of the campaign last night in Lille. "My decision is taken. If I am elected, I will work with the centre."
The presence of Jacques Delors and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, both from the moderate, centrist wing of the socialist party, was a signal to Mr Bayrou's 6.8 million voters. So was Ms Royal's decision to spend today, the last day of the campaign, in Brittany, where Mr Bayrou received some of his highest scores.
Mr Sarkozy held his last rally in Montpellier, in the presence of the outgoing first lady, Bernadette Chirac. "All through this campaign, France has never left me," he said. "I thought only of her. I have campaigned only for her . . . I speak to the entire French people. I want to be the people's candidate, without being a populist."
Adding to the sense of transition, President Jacques Chirac yesterday made his last official journey, to Berlin. He had tears in his eyes as he was greeted by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who addressed him for the first time by the familiar "du" and brought the Franco-German brigade to the German capital for a ceremonial review.
"Franco-German friendship, the unity between Germany and France, have made peace take hold, have affirmed democracy in Europe," Mr Chirac said.