A Party with Two Left Feet

How bad must it be when a party's best candidate for the presidency is into his third year of retirement — and quit politics after a humiliating rout in the last presidential race?

Lionel Jospin, 67, the former French Prime Minister who lost the 2002 presidential battle in the first round, has emerged as the favorite to lead the 2007 challenge for the presidency by France's Socialist Party (PS). That result comes after two leading PS contenders tangled. Laurent Fabius, 58, was ousted as the party's second-in-command last week in a move led by PS first secretary François...