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CAMPAIGN INEXPERIENCE. Except for a safe parliamentary seat, Balladur has never run for national office and may prove to be a weak campaigner. ``We know Balladur as Prime Minister, but we don't know what image he will have as a candidate,'' says Chirac spokesman Francois Baroin. ``He is coming into the campaign like a satellite re-entering the atmosphere. He could hit some unexpected turbulence.'' Observes a political analyst: ``Handshaking, backslapping--that's not Balladur's thing. But his good fortune is that modern campaigns are no longer centered on big rallies and grassroots contacts but on the more intimate setting of TV--and Balladur is a master of that.''
Probably the biggest thing Balladur has to worry about is Chirac's ferocity as a competitor. ``Chirac is a campaign animal,'' says a political analyst, ``and a cornered animal can be lethal.'' For 30 years, the mayor has had his sights set on the Elysee--a prize that escaped him in 1981 and again in 1988. At 62, having given up his leadership of the R.P.R., he knows this is his last chance. The odds are stacked against him, but one thing is sure: Jacques Chirac is going to wage the fight of his life.