French elections: Nicholas Sarkozy puts his foot in it again And I don't own 40 hectares. Mr Sarkozy said, clearly annoyed, and tapping her husband on the chest. From calling journalists "paedophiles" to telling David Cameron to "shut up" and describing sumo wrestlers as "obese guys with Brylcreemed buns," the hot-headed, hyperactive French president has never been a great loss to the diplomatic service or knowingly minced his words. But his failure to keep his temper at the one time when he has to ingratiate himself with French voters is being interpreted by some as evidence that the wheels are falling off his already shaky presidential campaign wagon. Today, the president will attempt to fix them back on with his first national election rally at a stadium outside Paris. Mr Sarkozy will use it to outline his manifesto and will attempt to galvanise the campaign with the theme, "It's me or chaos" - highlighting the inexperience of his opponent, Francois Hollande. That was a strategy used by Charles de Gaulle in 1965, the first French election with universal suffrage - but making the election so personal could just as easily backfire on Mr Sarkozy in the current climate. The rally is widely regarded as the make-or-break moment for Mr Sarkozy. In the tussle between public bluster and private panic, estimations of the possible turnout vary somewhat. Mr Sarkozy's spokesman, Franck Riester, told The Sunday Telegraph he was expecting 30-40,000 people, while the president's ruling UMP party expects at least 50,000. The numbers will be crucial. Such is the febrile atmosphere surrounding the event that UMP staff have been telephoning party members individually to ensure their attendance. Previewing the event, the Left-wing newspaper Libération observed: "A success won't be enough... Nicolas Sarkozy's first 'national meeting' must be a triumph, the crowning glory that shows that victory is still possible. With six weeks to go until the election, though, the French public seem less certain. Ask anyone in the street for their predictions and most will shrug and say they haven't a clue. They may love or hate Nicolas Sarkozy, but nobody is foolish enough to under-estimate him. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is a Sarkozy speciality. In 1995, he was ostracised from the right of centre RPR party after backing the wrong presidential candidate. After two years in what he described as a "political desert," he returned to oversee the party's trouncing in the European elections of 1999. The defeat prompted him to retire from national politics altogether and return to his career as a lawyer. Then, though, he backed RPR leader Jacques Chirac's re-election in 2002, and was given the interior minister's job, which was the beginning of his ascent to the top. Elected comfortably in 2007, Mr Sarkozy, however, squandered the French people's initial goodwill by a series of gauche errors that gave the impression he was unmoved by their daily concerns and was "president of the rich." Not all his setbacks have been self-inflicted. Just months after taking office in 2007, the global economic meltdown forced him to rethink his economic programme, leading to accusations that he failed to keep election pledges, a criticism Mr Riester says is unfair. "It was a response to the evolution of the economic situation," he said. When we began the campaign for 2007, it was on the basis of full employment. Then the world economic crisis struck and it was clear that hard reforms and modifications would have to be made. Facing disastrous opinion polls at the beginning of this year, the president kept everyone guessing about when and if he would stand for re-election, hoping to inflate his reputation as an international statesman by micro-managing the euro-zone crisis and leading foreign intervention in the war in Libya. Instead, it gave his Socialist rival, Francois Hollande, a head start, which then forced him to declare earlier than planned, putting his campaign on a back foot from the off. Today, the atmosphere among his MPs is morose. Some are uncomfortable with Mr Sarkozy's swerve to the Right, with policies aimed at attracting Front National waverers, including a new pledge to halve immigration levels. Others worry that he is making policy on the hoof and performing damaging U-turns. Two weeks ago he accused the FN's Marine Le Pen of whipping up an "artificial controversy" over halal meat, only to declare last week that it was the issue which most preoccupied French voters. And all the time, more are losing faith in the prospect of a Sarkozy victory. Jacques Le Guen, an MP with the ruling UMP party, admitted: "Until last week our colleagues were saying they still believe it could happen. Now we don't know. Yves Bur, a fellow UMP parliamentarian, added: "Sarkozy believes he can win with the same campaign he conducted in 2007. It's a serious mistake... I can tell you, colleagues elected with 51 per cent of votes are scared silly for their seats right now. The left-leaning Nouvel Observateur magazine was predictably damning: "The outgoing president seems to have lost the knack" it wrote, expressing astonishment that Mr Sarkozy was prepared to evoke his own defeat. Last week the president reiterated that he would get out of politics if he lost the election. Asked what he would do he replied: "I don't know." The magazine was withering. Today, the real question is understanding why a candidate known for his professionalism and gifted with an unequalled excess of energy, has put himself in such a perilous position, to the point where he himself publicly envisages his new life once the axe has fallen. One of his mistakes, said the magazine, was not exploiting Hollande's clear political weaknesses - he has no experience of office - and instead attacking him personally. It said many of the public had such a "visceral hostility" towards the president that the presidential election seemed like a referendum on him personally and not his politics. Indeed, polls show that a large number of those supporting his rival are not pro-Hollande but anti-Sarkozy. "This is something Hollande is playing on and I believe it is a tactic that will rebound on him," insisted Mr Riester. In a television debate described as "make or break" last week, Mr Sarkozy appeared on top form: combative and punchy. But even the right-wing Le Figaro newspaper said it failed to "dissipate the feeling that Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign was sliding." Mr Riester said he was "totally convinced" the French people would realise that Mr Sarkozy was the only person with the "energy, courage and commitment to solve the country's problems and Europe's problems." He is the only one that can do this. Of that I am sure," he told The Sunday Telegraph. In private, however, French political commentators and observers are briefing that the game is up for Nicolas Sarkozy. The jury will be out until today's meeting. Until then, the Sarkozy camp will be hoping it can keep a lid on the almost palpable panic, and that their candidate can keep his cool.