rules that protect the safety of women and families," but it's all a bit dull. Out on the floor of the DNC at the TWC Arena, there's a huge difference between the Democratic party delegates and their counterparts at the Republican conference in Tampa. Their higher level of enthusiasm has been observed already but the main difference is that Democrats actually sit in their seats and listen to the speakers, even in the early parts of the programme featuring such political superstars as... this guy. Governor of Delaware? Something like that. Republicans ate a lot of hotdogs. That was the other difference. The conventions always attract a large foreign contingent, from ambassadors based in DC to politicians from abroad looking for election tips from the country that is often in the lead in new techniques, writes Ewen Macaskill from the hall. The Democratic convention has long attracted a stream of British Labour MPs and officials. Famously, Labour sent officials to Little Rock in the 1990s to learn from the then experts, Bill Clinton and his team. So it was no surprise when the Guardian bumped into shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. He flew in today, arriving at the same time as Air Force One. He is representing Labour at the convention. After posing for a picture with and chatting to a woman wearing an outsize red hat adorned with as many pro-Obama badges as could be fitted on to it, he stopped for a brief word. "I am looking forward