Bloggers and a donkey

* For every one Democratic National Convention delegate there are three journalists. Several dozen of the 15,000 hacks are "bloggers", internet-only writers. Among them are the erudite TalkingPointsMemo.com, the DailyKos.com, which has astonishingly raised more than US$400,000 for the Kerry campaign, and Pacificviews.org, run by a Seattle woman, identified as Natasha, which averages a modest 300 hits a day.

* What sort of First Lady will Teresa Heinz Kerry make? Outspoken, for sure. Having just urged delegates from her home state of Pennsylvania to help restore a civil tone to United States politics, she addressed a journalist from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics," she said. Asked to explain what "un-American" meant, she retorted: "I didn't say that. You said something I didn't say. Now shove it."

* One party favourite will not be allowed near the convention; Swifty the donkey has been barred. Swifty was brought from his home in the foothills of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, to add a little levity. (The Democrats' mascot is the donkey while the Republicans have the elephant.) Officials at the Fleet Convention Centre ruled only delegates and staff could attend. Swifty faced an unceremonious 1500km journey straight back until Franklin zoo said he could stay there for the convention.

- INDEPENDENT