To lift her spirits supporters had taped posters of her to tree trunks and laid out homemade quiche. Royal, a Socialist who once dreamed of becoming France's first female president, flashed her bright white smile. But nothing could hide the fact that this Atlantic coast town has become the backdrop to an extraordinary political love-life saga at the highest levels of the French state.
Hollande's partner for 30 years and the mother of his four children, she is fighting a difficult contest to be elected MP in La Rochelle against Olivier Falorni, a Socialist who was expelled from the party after he refused to step aside to let her stand. His supporters claim she was parachuted into the safe seat so she could become an MP and then speaker of the Assembly, as a tradeoff for her support for Hollande. But just as Royal received a crucial message of support from Hollande this week, a bombshell dropped.
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The tweet sparked an uproar about airing private laundry in public, overshadowing Sunday's parliamentary election and threatening to dent Hollande's "Mr Normal" image. The race against Falorni, a La Rochelle teacher whose Italian immigrant grandfather was a local basketball legend, was already tense in a leftwing town famous for its beauty and rebelliousness.
But it has become even more brutal. Earlier, Royal watched nine-year-olds do a belly-dancing display in a working-class dockers' neighbourhood.
She has targeted the poor estates, warning that Nicolas Sarkozy's rightwing UMP party is getting behind Falorni, who polls show is likely to win. Jean-Paul Corap, an artist, felt the tweet was tactless. Serge Pain, who works in building supplies, said it was an unnecessary distraction. Meanwhile, the French media have been busy deconstructing the row.
