Quotes of the Day

If French voters choose Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as President of the republic next year, it won't be because of his caring image. Sarko, as he is nicknamed, may have emotional intelligence in abundance, but his public mien is as tough as old boots. This is the man who dismissed the disenfranchised youth of the banlieues as "racaille" — a term for thug — and fell out with his onetime mentor, current President Jacques Chirac, after backing a rival candidate for the Elysée.

And last week, he trumpeted hard-line new measures to reduce crime, promised to deport 25,000 illegal aliens this year and to further restrict legal immigration. Yet however fearsome Sarko has sounded, it's his softer side that is capturing attention. Sarkozy was seen sweet-talking a striking woman in a Paris restaurant. And not just any woman: it was his estranged wife and former adviser, Cécilia.

The couple split eight months ago. Sarko, widely expected to run for the presidency next year, had been fond of comparing his marriage to the Clintons'. He meant Bill and Hill's political teamwork. But his soundbites came back to haunt him when media reports of marital troubles, followed by Paris Match photos of Cécilia with a man identified as her beau, indicated strains in the Sarkozy household that recalled the U.S. politicians' personal travails. The French press, traditionally reluctant to invade the privacy of elected representatives, considered the rupture of the Sarkozy alliance fair game.

Now Cécilia is back home and is also advising her husband on policy at the Interior Ministry. But it won't be business as usual, says another Sarkozy adviser, Manuel Aeschlimann. The Minister "has understood the tough lesson that inviting media coverage of his private life during happy times meant enduring the same attention when things go bad," says Aeschlimann, who predicts that Cécilia will adopt a lower profile. "He won't hide her: she's there, and she's important to him politically and personally. But there's too little to gain in image terms for him to put them both in danger a second time." Sarko, it seems, must try a new tack, from tough talker to strong — and silent — type.

• BRUCE CRUMLEY
• French presidential wannabe Nicolas Sarkozy reconciles with his estranged wife