PARIS, France — Even when the conversation isn't about Nicolas Sarkozy, people still end up talking about Nicolas Sarkozy.
After five years under the omnipresent, love-him-or-hate-him president, that's just a fact of French political life.
So when supporters of François Hollande, the Socialist Party challenger in the presidential election to be held this spring, are asked to define their candidate, they quickly bring up the incumbent.
"Hollande will be a president who's close to the people and brings dignity back to the office, and that's something we're all eager for after the five years we've just had," says Fatima Lalem, a Socialist Party member and deputy to the mayor of Paris.
"Hollande has shown that he can work with everyone, make room for his opponents," echoes Yannick Trigance, who's advised Hollande on education for the past decade.
"But look at Sarkozy, he divides everyone, he pits the French against one another." READ MORE
