<p>Strauss-Kahn had polled as the brightest hope for France's opposition Socialist party, which reacted with shock today. Its leader Martine Aubry called the news a "thunderbolt."<br /><br />Polls had placed Strauss-Kahn as French voters' favourite potential candidate for the election, ahead of fellow Socialists and Sarkozy, whose approval ratings have plunged during his time in power.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to announce a bid and sniping by political rivals was in full swing, with opponents sneering at his jetset lifestyle, on top of long-standing claims about his dalliances with women.<br /><br />But no verbal mudslinging could do as much harm as his shock arrest yesterday, on charges of trying to rape a maid in a New York hotel room.<br /><br />"The news coming tonight from New York sounds like a thunderbolt. I myself, like everyone, am totally astounded," Aubry said in Lille, where she is mayor.<br />"I ask the Socialists to remain united and responsible."<br /><br />She would not yet comment on how the presidential race might reshape itself if Strauss-Kahn is taken out of the running and how the Socialists might regroup ahead of their primary to choose a candidate in October.<br /><br />"It is staggering news, about which everything remains to be verified," the Socialists' 2007 presidential candidate, Segolene Royal, who is also running in 2012, told Europe 1 radio.<br /><br />"Let us wait for justice to do its work and not turn this into a political soap opera," she added. "The time has not yet come to comment on the consequences of this affair for domestic politics."<br /><br />Pundits and politicians on left and right declared his hopes dead, however.<br />A key rival electoral challenger, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who polls show could win the first round of the vote, seized on the news.</p>
<p>Strauss-Kahn had polled as the brightest hope for France's opposition Socialist party, which reacted with shock today. Its leader Martine Aubry called the news a "thunderbolt."<br /><br />Polls had placed Strauss-Kahn as French voters' favourite potential candidate for the election, ahead of fellow Socialists and Sarkozy, whose approval ratings have plunged during his time in power.<br /><br />Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to announce a bid and sniping by political rivals was in full swing, with opponents sneering at his jetset lifestyle, on top of long-standing claims about his dalliances with women.<br /><br />But no verbal mudslinging could do as much harm as his shock arrest yesterday, on charges of trying to rape a maid in a New York hotel room.<br /><br />"The news coming tonight from New York sounds like a thunderbolt. I myself, like everyone, am totally astounded," Aubry said in Lille, where she is mayor.<br />"I ask the Socialists to remain united and responsible."<br /><br />She would not yet comment on how the presidential race might reshape itself if Strauss-Kahn is taken out of the running and how the Socialists might regroup ahead of their primary to choose a candidate in October.<br /><br />"It is staggering news, about which everything remains to be verified," the Socialists' 2007 presidential candidate, Segolene Royal, who is also running in 2012, told Europe 1 radio.<br /><br />"Let us wait for justice to do its work and not turn this into a political soap opera," she added. "The time has not yet come to comment on the consequences of this affair for domestic politics."<br /><br />Pundits and politicians on left and right declared his hopes dead, however.<br />A key rival electoral challenger, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who polls show could win the first round of the vote, seized on the news.</p>