France's extremist alliance

And the new tactic adopted by the historic leader of the new French nationalism is "moderation."

Le Pen's campaign is primarily directed at the black community and toward the immigrant community in general. One of his election posters, therefore, depicts a dark skinned woman. He even made a covenant with Dieudonné M'bala, a black "comedian" who primarily excels in making anti-Semitic statements.

This month senior members of Le Pen's party, including his wife, attended one of Dieudonne's performances, after the "comedian" had joined a party conference that received high media coverage. Will the two "extremes touch" as the political saying in France goes?

Of course not. Judging by the signs, this is a highly calculated overture between the two, who among other things built their careers on anti-Jewish statements.

Anti-Jewish

Le Pen called the gas chambers "a small historic detail" and minimized the cruelty of the Nazi occupation of France, which dispatched tens of thousands of Jews to their deaths.

Dieudonné called Jews "the worst type of swindlers" and warned against "the Jews who manned all the strategic posts in France." He called the 60-year ceremonies marking the liberation of Auschwitz "remembrance pornography."

What does Le Pen think of the anti-Semitic jokes made by the "comedian"? "They could be funny. No subject should be exempt from criticism and irony." He added, "Those who make the most fun of the Jews are the Jews themselves."

Of course the Jews can be laughed at; even anti-Semitism can be made fun of. It all depends on who is telling the joke. Woody Allen made a career out of telling jokes about the Jews and he even got an Oscar for it.

Le Pen built an entire career on xenophobia and anti-Semitic slips of the tongue, and he received more and more of the electoral vote. Everyone has their own humor and audience.

The French public is eagerly awaiting the two-act play at the polls on April 22nd and on May 6th - the first and second rounds of the presidential elections. Le Pen, a veteran in the political arena, hopes to repeat his successful performance of 2002, when he made it to the second round at the expense of a left-wing candidate.

This time commentators believe that he has a chance of doing so at the expense of a right-wing candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, and to make it to the second round against leftist candidate Ségolène Royal.

At present the Right seems to be embroiled in much more conflict than the Left. Le Pen is dreaming of a head-on clash with the popular leader, and believes he will achieve better results than the 18 percent he received when contending against Jacques Chirac in the previous elections.

Le Pen, therefore, is in need of every vote and is thus eying the immigrants. Even if they don't vote for him, the "Openness" is supposed to bring closer the votes of those who previously feared voting for the "radical" Le Pen and who may agree to vote for the more "moderate" version. Le Pen is convinced he will have the last laugh.