1. Last autumn he said he was inclined to think a five–year prison sentence was a "very weighty punishment indeed" and compared advocates of long sentences with bloodthirsty mobs in the 1700s.

2. "It‘s a much simpler method." Sarkozy followed over the weekend in an interview in Philosophie magazine, saying he was "inclined to think that people are born pedophiles, and that it is also a problem we do not know how to manage." Sarkozy also said that teenage suicide was genetic, caused by an "underlying fragility and pain." His comments were ridiculed by the other leading candidates, including Le Pen, who called them "absurd," and François Bayrou of the small Union for French Democracy party, who termed them "chilling." In a radio interview, the Catholic archbishop of Paris, Monsignor André Vingt–Trois, said, "What seems most serious to me is the idea that you can‘t change the course of destiny." With only 11 days remaining before the April 22 vote, the gaffes appear to have the potential to sway undecided voters –– as much as 40 percent of the electorate, according to some polls.