Related: Le Pen family feud is a battle for the soul of the Front National – and France In an interview with the centre-right Le Figaro newspaper on Monday, Le Pen, who had threatened to leave the political ring "only at the end of the bout, whether victor or vanquished", seemed almost conciliatory as he said he would withdraw his candidature to avoid further damage to the party.
One of her rivals, Glenda Jackson MP, who stepped down as Labour's transport minister for London to run for the mayorship, welcomed Ms Kramer's candidature.
So when it came to the leadership election, most Conservative MPs bought Airey Neave's reassuring message that her candidature was just intended to shake up the unpopular Heath.
Jack Straw announced his candidature more directly.
Add, too, the idea of a committee of "wise men" to discuss the future shape of Europe (a proposal which may, just may, suggest a softening in the Sarkozy opposition to Turkey's EU candidature).
How will Mr McCain amass the war-chest to force his candidature upon them?
In 1950 a contest between Lord Tedder and Jawaharlal Nehru, then prime minister of India, was a non-event after Nehru made it clear he was too busy building a country to accept even if elected.Few expected Mr Arain to make much of a difference to Lord Sainsbury's chances, but his candidature reminded others that the result didn't have to be a foregone conclusion.
Mr Platini's candidature is, however, tarnished by his puzzling support for Qatar's bid for the World Cup in 2022.
Mr Veltroni only appeared as a potential candidate in the past week and he formally announced his candidature on June 27th.
He seemed the favourite to become the UN's secretary-general in 1981, but the Soviet Union vetoed his candidature, claiming he was too pro-western, and vetoed him again in 1991.
Each of the front-runners has his personal flaws and attributes, but it so happens that the candidature of each also requires the Tories to ask themselves a searching question about what their party now stands for.
