Lots of Talk, but Nobody's Listening

France is up in arms again. but this time it is a lack of passion rather than an excess of it that has embattled the nation. The first French presidential election of the 21st century is being universally decried as lackluster and boring. The same two men who lined up seven years ago, Socialist Lionel Jospin and neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac, are vying for the post again. But having shared power as Prime Minister and President for the last five years, they both run as incumbents, and neither seems able to profit from that status. Pundits are predicting the highest abstention rate...