Election diary

* There is a danger with newspaper endorsements, as the Lone Star Iconoclast , a weekly in President George Bush's home town of Crawford, has discovered. The paper's publisher, W Leon Smith, decided to endorse John Kerry rather than the local man and the reaction has been severe. Businesses have pulled adverts and refused to sell the newspaper while many have cancelled subscriptions. "I knew a person or two might pull an ad, that we might lose a subscriber or two. But this has turned a little more vicious," said Mr Smith.

* There is a danger with newspaper endorsements, as the Lone Star Iconoclast , a weekly in President George Bush's home town of Crawford, has discovered. The paper's publisher, W Leon Smith, decided to endorse John Kerry rather than the local man and the reaction has been severe. Businesses have pulled adverts and refused to sell the newspaper while many have cancelled subscriptions. "I knew a person or two might pull an ad, that we might lose a subscriber or two. But this has turned a little more vicious," said Mr Smith.

* Could John Edwards beat George Bush in a run? Chat show host Jay Leno asked the senator directly if he could out-pace Mr Bush. To roars of laughter Mr Edwards noted that while he played American football as a student, Mr Bush was a member of his team's cheering squad. "He was on the side, with his pom-poms," he said. "I don't know, can you run fast with those cheerleading outfits on?"

* Jamie Rubin appears to have been sidelined from spinning on foreign affairs for the Kerry campaign. Could this have anything to do with his comment that Kerry "in all probability" would have gone to war against Iraq?

Andrew Buncombe