From the Reuters article headlined Former PM de Villepin bows out of presidential race (via France 24):
"it would take a miracle for him to get the signatures of 500 official sponsors by tomorrow's deadline, without which he will not be able to take part in the contest.
"I'm still around 30 short," he told France 2 television in an interview."
De Villepin is a poet, literary critic and former Prime Minister of France, having been appointed by former President Jacques Chirac. He has never been elected to anything.
A partisan of French President Sarkozy is said to have said in a different context about Dominic de Villepin, "One can be tall, handsome and arrogant and lose."
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