Word: mitterrand
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Giscard and Mitterrand square off for the second round...
...remains a surprisingly enigmatic figure for many Frenchmen. Is he a liberal reformer or a conservative? Even his supporters disagree. Does he favor firmness or conciliation toward the Soviet Union? The answer is not clear; some of the President's policies seem refined to the point of ambivalence. Mitterrand accuses him of a monarchical style of government. Chirac, Giscard's former Premier, snipes away at what he sees as Giscard's vacillation and weakness in foreign affairs Michel Debré, a Premier under Charles de Gaulle and a marginal presidential candidate, accuses Giscard of "anesthetizing" France with...
...months ago, Giscard was expected to take 35% of the vote in the first round and 59% in the second-round runoff between the two top vote getters. Now four polls give him only 27% to 28% in the first round. For the decisive second round, two polls showed Mitterrand winning with 51% and 54%. Another saw Giscard gaining a sum victory, while a fourth predicted a dead heat. Giscard appeared to acknowledge that his campaign was in trouble by calling his top strategists to the Elysée Palace for a presidential dressing down...
...Leonid Brezhnev. Giscard now says that the purpose of his trip was to tell Brezhnev in no uncertain terms that "détente would not survive another blow similar to the invasion of Afghanistan." His critics charged that he looked like an appeaser. "It was a serious diplomatic blunder," Mitterrand said...
...entourage has any doubt that a disgruntled electorate will punish the President in the first election round. In next month's runoff, though, his advisers are counting on French apprehensions, rather than gratitude or affection to win Giscard another seven years in the Elysée. "Where Mitterrand represents adventure," says one aide, "Giscard stands for security. He may be cold, but he's a pilot." That reasoning is an appeal to Gallic logic at a time when many voters seem tempted to exercise their equally French passions...