This NY Daily News report is, no doubt, a preview of our own 2008 press coverage:

French pick woman to face rightist in prez race

Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal advanced yesterday to a runoff vote that will pick a president unlike any France has seen before: a hard-edged reformer pledging a new start, or a woman promising a healing touch.

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Royal, 53, perfectly coiffed and dressed in a chic white suit, urged supporters last night to choose a path to a "new France" that cultivates "human values" and cares for the less fortunate.

"I refuse to cultivate fear," she said in a slap at Sarkozy, whose law-and-order image has made him a hated figure in Paris' troubled suburbs, rocked by riots that spread across France in the fall of 2005.

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Many are predicting violence anew if Sarkozy is elected. Some voters blamed a strong anti-Sarkozy vote for yesterday's unprecedented 84% voter turnout.

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But can a woman be elected president of chivalrous France, where Chirac still routinely greets women - even German Chancellor Angela Merkel - with a kiss on the hand?

"It doesn't bother me, but I don't the think the country is ready for it yet," said Frederic, 30, a white-aproned waiter who watched the results on TV at the Socialist Party office.

"Of course, yes, France is ready," countered Sarah Renzineb, 33, an unemployed Royal supporter from Paris. "Yes, yes, yes!"

But the press has no agenda. Just reporting the facts.