He fought France's far right for half a century. Now Mélenchon's presidential bid may hand it power

LE BOURGET, France -- Young supporters wore his name on their backs like a soccer star’s, above the number 27. They sang about brass bands and revolution. Many had spent the fall protesting or blockading their schools.Then in walked Jean-Luc Mélenchon: 75 years old, on his fourth presidential run and old enough to be their grandfather.“I have only one sensible thing to propose,” he told 20,000 supporters in a vast hall north of Paris on Saturday. “Everything must change.”The septuagenarian may never get another chance. Three presidential bids have ended short of the runoff. In 2022, just 421,308 votes kept him out. Now, riding a surge in support, he is eyeing a winner-take-all showdown with far-right front-runner Marine Le Pen.The bespectacled, booming and seemingly tireless leftist wants more than the presidency. He wants to rewrite the rules of the French republic — invoking the unfinished promise of the Revolution of 1789.A place in the May 2 runoff could prove a cruel prize. If Le Pen beats him, the anti-capitalist who has spent half a century fighting the far right could help give it what it has never won: the Elysee Palace — and command of France’s nuclear arsenal.Victory cou...