Back in 1995 as well, Le Pen got more votes than expected in the first round, as many of his supporters were unwilling to admit to pollsters that they intended to vote for him.

As much as I may disagree with the economic agenda of the Socialists, the selection of such an extremist, far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Arab, anti-Semitic, anti-Europe, anti-American xenophobe and racist like Le Pen is very, very bad for France. I'd prefer Chirac to Jospin, but easily either of them to Le Pen.

In 1987, he said that the Nazi death camps were "a mere detail" of World War II. In 1990, he was convicted of incitement to racial hatred by casting doubt on the Nazi persecution of Jews and Gypsies under a French law banning such rhetoric.

There is strong evidence that he personally participated in the torture of Algerians during that country's war of independance from France 40 years ago.

He apparently has a fetish for Joan of Arc statues, using the image of the 15th century French herione to make more respectable his ugly religious fanaticism and nationalism. Le Pen dreams of restoring a Golden Age of proud, independant, all-white, all-Catholic Frenchmen. Kinda reminds you of the Taliban, doesn't it?

LePen has accused President Chirac of being "in the pay of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the notorious B’nai B’rith."

Le Pen has openly stated that he believes in the "inequality of the races." History has demonstrated, he said, that the races "do not have the same evolutionary capacity." He even suggested that the Olympic Games show that "there is an obvious inequality between the black and the white race."

His numero two in the party repeated a LePen statement that "there are differences between the races. . .there are differences in the genes. . .there are simply too many immigrants, and they make who knows how many children whom they send into the streets and then claim welfare...."

In an open letter on Mother's Day, Le Pen reminded French women of their patriotic duty to have more children to defend France's cultural identity.

Chirac to face Le Pen in second round of French election

By The Associated Press

In a huge upset, extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen qualified on Sunday to face President Jacques Chirac in the runoff for French president, according to media projections based on exit polls.

Le Pen, who virulently opposes immigration, was projected to place second by all three major French networks, beating Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who was in third place.

The projected result was seen as a political earthquake. For months, polls had consistently projected that Chirac and Jospin would be the top two finishers in Sunday's first round.

Le Pen is founder and head of the extreme-right National Front party, which historically has blamed immigrants for high unemployment and urban violence. He is notorious for once describing the Holocaust as "a detail" of history. He has denied he is anti-Semitic.

Le Pen, 73, has played a central role as kingmaker in past presidential elections and placed third in the last two races.

The three French TV networks based their projections on exit polls conducted by three top polling firms: Sofres, IPSOS, and CSA.

The firms estimated variously that Chirac had won between 19.8 and 20 percent of the vote; Le Pen between 17 and 17.9 percent; and Jospin 16 to 16.1 percent.

Le Pen, speaking just after the projections were announced when polls closed at 8 P.M., said on French television that he had predicted the result.

"It's a great flash of lucidity by the French people," he said of the projected result. Neither Chirac nor Jospin had an immediate comment.

Sunday's first-round voting featured a record 16 candidates and an abstention rate estimated at 28 percent - the highest in nearly four decades.

The top two vote-getters face off in a runoff May 5.