US Election Diary: TV star and electoral virgin makes voting sexy

Barack Obama called Mitt Romney a bulls****er and Joe Biden asked parents of a slain Marine when it was that their son acquired billiard balls for testicles.

And now we have a video from Lena Dunham, the star of Girls, hinting that voting is like losing your virginity. “My first time was amazing,” says Dunham, pictured. “Before I was a girl, now I am a woman. I went to the polling station, I pulled back the curtain. I voted for Obama.” Hey, if it gets young’uns to vote...

Comedian silences Trump

Hopefully, you didn’t catch the comedian Stephen Colbert’s riposte to Donald Trump’s stunt this week, in which he offered millions to charity if Mr Obama hands over his education and passport records. Briefly, it involves Colbert’s testicles and Trump’s mouth. More interesting would be to know what the satirist plans to do with the $800,000 in his own super-PAC. Some pre-voting jape is presumably afoot.

Just how much growth is enough?

When is 2 per cent a cup half full or half empty? That was the battle of words that broke out between the two camps yesterday after statisticians gave us that number for the latest GDP growth rate in the US. But while Mr Romney railed that it was far below what Mr Obama promised, the Obama team had the most reason to cheer. It was a higher number than forecast and at least feeds the narrative that the economic sails are filling.