President Chirac set out yesterday to persuade disgruntled French citizens to put aside their distaste for Europe and his own Government and vote oui to the EU constitution in a referendum.
The President and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his Prime Minister, used a solemn parliamentary session at the Château de Versailles and a Franco-Polish summit to open a campaign to head off a possible political rout and death for the European treaty.

Interesting. As an ignorant Americano I guess I assumed constitutional (or whatever the hell you call that mess) approval was a slam dunk, especially in France.