Popular Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy all but announced Sunday that he plans to run in the 2007 French presidential race. In a boisterous speech to the conservative party he heads, Sarkozy promised a "healthy, loyal and quality" competition in the race to possibly succeed President Jacques Chirac. "Nobody, really nobody, will stop me from completing the mission that you have set for me," he told cheering members of Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement party in the Atlantic coastal town of La Baule. Sarkozy, the No. 2 in Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's government, said he would strive to deserve the confidence of the French "and try to be up to the challenge of 2007 appointments" when France holds legislative and presidential elections. Although Sarkozy has never hidden his presidential ambitions, choosing a candidate for an election would be up to the party. There are still questions as to whether Chirac will run for a third term or whether Villepin will enter the race in 2007, according to a report of The Associated Press.
