Security Sarko cements his comeback credentials Nicolas Sarkozy was first catapulted to national attention when he walked into a nursery school in the posh Parisian suburb of Neuilly, where he was mayor, in May 1993 to negotiate with a deranged man strapped with explosives who had taken a group of children hostage. His success in persuading the self-styled "human bomb" to release several children - borne out in "Sarko's" arms to their waiting parents - made him a national hero. Two days later, police killed the hostage taker and released the remaining children unharmed. Some of the same instincts were on display this week when President Sarkozy confronted the murder in Toulouse of three Jewish children and a Jewish teacher, by a motorcycle gunman who would turn out to be France's first homegrown, al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist. The question now is whether the drama, could transform Mr Sarkozy's chances of defying the polls to win a second term of office next month. When he was informed of the killings on Monday morning he switched easily into crisis-management mode - a state of affairs he relishes. It is something he has had plenty of experience of during his tenure, from his presidency of the European Union after the collapse of Lehman Brothers to the eurozone crisis. His impulsive nature can infuriate those who have to deal with him. But his tenacity and readiness to take decisions - he loves to say his role is not to comment but to act - are not doubted. He flew to the scene. There, in a gesture reminiscent of 1993, he announced that Claude Guéant, the interior minister and a close aide, would stay in Toulouse until the killer was caught. "It was a big risk," says a friend. "Imagine if in some days" time nothing had happened." As it happened, by Tuesday night the killer was cornered in his flat, where he died in a shoot-out with police on Thursday morning. The president's gamble on a swift capture had paid off - albeit leaving uncomfortable questions over why Mohamed Merah, who had been known to the security services, had fallen off the surveillance radar. "Mission accomplished," declared the ever-supportive Le Figaro on Friday. But will the incident help him overturn the lead long held by François Hollande, his Socialist rival, and win a return to office? Such a feat has after all eluded every European leader up for re-election since the outbreak of the eurozone crisis. "If you had asked me a week ago I'd have said he would not be re-elected," says Dominique Reynié, professor at Sciences Po. But now I'd say he has a better chance . . . It is a new campaign that starts now. The truth is that Mr Sarkozy is a deeply unpopular president. No president in recent times has come back from as far behind as Mr Sarkozy was in the polls in January and won: not since Valéry Giscard d'Estaing lost in 1981 has an incumbent president been defeated. His approval ratings, though rising recently, remain below 40 per cent. Part of his problem, ironically, stems from the relentless pro-activism - he is known as the omni-president - that drove him to confront the human bomb 20 years ago. There is an element of snobbery to his unpopularity. In 2007, when he beat Ségolène Royal to win the Elysee, Mr Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, made a virtue of his role as an outsider who had not been to one of the grandes écoles and did not belong to the French establishment. But many French think he does not treat the quasi-monarchical office of presidency with sufficient dignity. His often brusque manner - he called a young journalist a "cretin" in front of the cameras this month - does not help. And he has struggled to throw off an image as "president of the rich" (which infuriates him), hung on him early in his presidency over his tax policies and penchant for fraternising with France's super-wealthy. Before the shootings, a frenetic campaign push, coupled with Mr Hollande losing some ground to the hard left, suggested he could match or beat the socialist challenger in the first round on April 22. But he still lags in polls for the second round on May 6. In recent weeks, Mr Sarkozy has sought to purge his image with a dose of humility, admitting mistakes, saying he has changed and ending campaign speeches with a call of aidez moi - help me. Now, the emergence of national security as a major election theme should help him. Mr Reynié says the implicit pitch to voters will be: "If you need a surgeon do you choose one you like or one who will do a good job?" So can Sarkozy's stock theme help him now as it has before? When he was interior minister under Jacques Chirac he talked of cleaning out criminals with a Karcher power hose. Throughout these intense last four days, Mr Sarkozy appealed for national unity, bringing together Jewish and Muslim leaders and insisting the gunman's actions would not break "the values of the Republic." He spent time with the families of the victims. He did not hesitate to use emotive language: "When you grab a little girl to put a bullet in her head, without giving her any chance, you are a monster," he said on Tuesday. Jacques Séguéla, vice-president of the Havas advertising group, is a sometime supporter of former socialist candidates, who is now close to Mr Sarkozy. He thinks the president has moved from being an "outgoing president, as Mr Hollande likes to call him, to being a president-protector." Mr Sarkozy's team believes that Mr Hollande's second-round lead is "built on sand," arguing that many voters are undecided. But polls equally show that, while Mr Hollande does not inspire much enthusiasm, a majority of voters still want Mr Sarkozy out. Mr Sarkozy himself is typically defiant. In a profile yesterday in Le Monde, he is quoted saying: "I will win and I will tell you why. He's no good and it is beginning to show. Hollande is nul [useless]. He's nul, do you understand? After this week, such classic Sarko bravado will be taken rather more seriously than just a few days ago. The writer heads the FT's Paris bureau