The Senate's Top Ten Press Release Hounds

Randy Barrett's must-read piece in National Journal today about the glut of press releases filling DC reporters' mailboxes did us the favor of figuring out which Senate offices have been most prolific in sending out press releases.

According to National Journal research, U.S. senators put out 13,069 press releases in the first seven months of 2006.* That's an average of 131 per senator, or 88 per business day, for the chamber.

Harry Reid, D-Nev.       488
Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.  435**
Olympia Snowe, R-Maine   428**
Pete Domenici, R-N.M.    400
Susan Collins, R-Maine   329
Tom Harkin, D-Iowa       317
Bill Frist, R-Tenn.      308
Conrad Burns, R-Mont.    299**
Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.   287**
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.  281
Total                  3,572

There's also this gem:

Likely presidential aspirant Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., authored an astounding 28 press statements on July 20 alone.

And while Randy's story has Nagourney and Mark Leibovich complaining about how many releases they get and saying most aren't open, I tend to side with Steve Rabinowitz' assessment:

And some experts say that reporters may complain about releases, but they still end up using them. Steve Rabinowitz, a public-relations strategist with Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications, argues, "Any journalist who says they never rely on paper handouts from flacks is just full of shit. The vast majority of what gets written in Washington comes from sources or from some kind of paper."