PARIS — The last time he boarded a flight for Paris, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was on the verge of announcing his candidacy for president, and in some quarters his victory was considered certain.

Four months after being dragged off that plane in New York to answer accusations that he attempted to rape a hotel chambermaid, the former IMF chief arrived in Paris on Sunday to a gaggle of reporters that would be the envy of any politician on the campaign trail.

But a poll and analysts indicate that his politicking days are over. At least, for now.

Strauss-Kahn touched down Sunday just over a week after New York prosecutors dropped the charges — including attempted rape, sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment — because of concerns about the maid's credibility. He was met with a mixed welcome.

Friends and allies in the Socialist Party expressed relief that he was home a free man, and a supporter serenaded him with a bit of Verdi.

But members of his own party who are competing in a presidential primary have begun distancing themselves, and French voters appear to want a break from the man so famous he's often known only by his initials DSK.

"I don't think he will come back on the political scene," said Bichi Attal, a resident of Sarcelles, the working class suburb of Paris where Strauss-Kahn used to be mayor. "If I were in his shoes, I would stop politics and take care of my wife because he has a great wife."

Jean-Daniel Levy, a pollster and political analyst, said that while French people were still interested in the man as gossip, they'd lost interest in the politician.

"We're already in a period where the French aren't talking about Dominique Strauss- Kahn any more," he said. "There's no waiting" for him to make a big announcement.

And what's more important, Levy said, there seemed to be no void in French politics either: "From one day to the next, the French leaned more toward (Socialist presidential hopeful) Francois Hollande than Dominique Strauss-Kahn."