2012 is an election year for both the United States and France. But although the French election is in April, the French campaign atmosphere is significantly less intense and the mood significantly more muted. This contrast is in part due to the strict regulations that govern elections in France, which range from campaign funding to the amount of media attention received by each candidate.

Media coverage during campaigns is tightly regulated. Each and every candidate must be allocated the same amount of media attention, and neither the candidate nor their groups of supporters are allowed to buy commercial advertising space to promote their candidate.

Officially, the campaign begins only two weeks before the first round of the election, after which the top two candidates will have another two weeks to prepare for the run-off. During this period, the candidates are given access to public radio and television by the state.

Of course, the presidential campaign begins long before the start of the official campaign, but it still pales in comparison to the long and vigorous campaigning in the U.S.

In both France and the U.S., people see equality in the process of the presidential election.

France strictly mandates this equality and tries to level the playing field for all the candidates, but is this true equality if the most popular candidate receives the same treatment as the least popular?

In the U.S., a candidate’s resources and access to the media are determined by his or her supporters, which in theory give the most popular candidates the most advantage.

However, in this new age of Super PACS, one extremely wealthy supporter can radically alter a candidate’s standing.

According to public opinion polling, Newt Gingrich was trailing Mitt Romney in South Carolina less than 10 days before the state’s primary election. A $10 million contribution by billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife to Newt Gingrich’s SuperPAC, Winning Our Future, helped the campaign buy a significant amount of airtime and swing the South Carolina vote in Gingrich’s favor.

The French system may seem more equal on the surface, but does either system actually generate equality? Is equality even possible?

Erica Egenes

Weinberg junior

Politics & Policy writer

Politics & Policy is a student publication encouraging informed political discussions on college campuses. Various guest writers from Politics & Policy will run weekly. For more information, visit www.politicsandpolicy.org.