PARIS — Police say a break-in has taken place at the presidential election campaign headquarters of French former prime minister Dominique de Villepin.
Campaign staff on Saturday discovered a damaged entrance door and signs that closets had been rummaged through.
Police officials said authorities were checking to see if anything had been stolen.
Most polls show center-right candidate Villepin – seen as a rival of conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy – would garner a few percentage points at best if the springtime election were held today.
Villepin is perhaps best known abroad for a rousing 2003 U.N. Security Council speech against the prospect of U.S.-led war in Iraq.

February 11, 2012 07:36 AM EST | Associated Press