Sarkozy in SL

French political debate among young people is shifting from Left Bank cafes into Second Life, with supporters of presidential frontrunners center-right Nicolas Sarkozy, Socialist Segolene Royal and centrist Francois Bayrou, along with fans of far-right National Front leader Jean Marie Le Pen, staking out their turf in the virtual world, writes Reuters.

Sarkozy's virtual site, where visiting avatars can collect promotional T-shirts to support his campaign, gets about 15,000 visitors a day. Though the site is popular, Sarkozy relies more on web videos and blogs for his campaign.

Since the futuristic world is based around false identities, it's easy for a real-life supporter to pretend to be a voter and enter a politician's virtual headquarters as a virtual spy.

In January a tussle between far-right and left-wing supporters featured exploding virtual pigs - and made the front page of daily newspaper Liberation.

Clashes between political opponents are common in Second Life. The virtual office of U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards, for example, was recently vandalized.