In an unprecedented move in French diplomacy, newscasts on several TV channels showed the first few minutes of a video link-up between the French president and his Washington counterpart.Days before the 22 April first-round vote in the French presidential election, the rare glimpse of banter between world leaders shows Obama saying of the campaign, "It must be a busy time." He adds: "I admire the tough battle you are waging." Sarkozy replies, grinning and with arms folded: "We will win, Mr Obama. You and me, together." The cameras leave before the presidents talk about Syria, Iran and oil. Washington told Le Monde it had indeed been aware that cameras were authorised to film the first few minutes of the video conference.

Three Musketeers of Obama's in mission to Paris: John Del Cecato presidential strategist David Axelrod, Cornell Belcher, pollster, and Stephen Geer, "inventor" of fundraising on the Internet. They have contributed to the electoral triumph of 2008 and remain mobilized alongside the outgoing President for appointment in November 2012. Suffice to say that the visit "private" in recent days in the French capital, at the initiative of Olivier Piton, installed French lawyer in the U.S., instead of motivations "professional".

Venus auscultate the presidential campaign, they met with the staffs of Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and Francois Bayrou, and various elected officials and polling institutes. On the Internet, France has caught up Lessons to be learned? "The political and electoral rules are of course different, but when an incumbent President is nominated, it is always a referendum on his person and his record," said John Del Cecato.

"It is interesting to observe your" best practices "and see how you handle the specific constraints of a campaign. For example, while we spend a lot of time raising money, the French candidates are focusing much more on direct contact with voters. And if we had the lead in Internet use, you have largely caught up with your delay. " In the U.S., said Cornell Belcher, a campaign based on "the three M: Money, Message, Mobilisation. Here, money has much less importance and the message depends much more on the press, since a candidate can not pass directly into a barrage of commercials. So, it's on voter mobilization that carries most of the campaign efforts. "