The Americanisation of French politics is now obvious, from live televised debates to the invasion of candidates' private lives.
   Everything in France points to the Americanisation of French politics; from televised debates between aspiring candidates in the run-up to the presidential elections, to the evolution of the primary election system within the French socialist party, and the staging of candidates' private lives on the front page of celebrity magazines, which didn't even exist a year ago.
   Over the years, the Americanisation of French politics has taken many shapes.
   The Americanisation of French politics doesn't, however, come only through the bedroom's keyhole or stolen holiday snapshots. In an attempt to emulate the primary system of American political parties, in which party members choose who is going to run for the supreme job, the French socialist party imposed on its candidates six public debates, three of which were to be broadcast live on public and private national TV channels. Ségolène Royal and her two rivals, the social democrat and former economy minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and socialist hardliner and former prime minister Laurent Fabius, reluctantly accepted the challenge.
   One thing, though, that hasn't invaded French politics yet, is negative political ads, the kind of libellous attacks currently broadcast on American national networks for the US midterm elections. These are still forbidden in France. And despite the rampant Americanisation of French politics, it is indeed difficult to envisage in France what a Republican group just did in New York, accusing Democrat candidate Michael Arcuri of using taxpayers' money to call a sex line. Surely, in France, people would simply consider it a natural compensation for doing such a difficult job.