The recent elections mark another step in the National Rally’s effort to move from the fringes to the mainstream in French politics. Despite more professional campaigns, the party still struggles to shake its reputation for extremism.
In Hénin-Beaumont, a former mining town ringed by man-made mountains of coal refuse from a bygone age, the streets were nearly deserted on a recent morning in mid-March. Few braved the unrelenting ra… [+8652 chars]
