We're cranking up our press release meter for another year -- keeping track of how many missives grace our e-mail inbox from the computers of the several p.r. flacks who churn out media handouts on behalf of our beloved statewide politicians. This year, we've expanded the meter to include State Treasurer Ted Wheeler and State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, to go along with the champion press release originator, State Attorney General John Kroger, and Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown.

Since we've got four of them going now, and they promise to be every bit as active as they were last year, we're going to cut ourselves some slack and update the counts only once a month. But believe it or not, January has come and gone, and so here are the first month's tallies:

It appears old Ted Wheeler is an early favorite for second place in this four-way horse race, eclipsing both Brown and Avakian. But it's still early. Best of luck to all our contestants over the next 11 months.