The e-spin contest winner coming out of the first day of Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing may be:

The Senate Republican Communications Center. The GOP spinners sent out releases at 4:19 p.m., 3:04 p.m., 3 p.m., 2:54 p.m., 2:46 p.m and 12:22 p.m. In addition to simple quantity, the GOP spinners actually provided some potentially useful context. So, for instance, their releases would take a particular assertion in Sotomayor's statement -- say, "my career as an advocate ended and my career as a judge began when I was appointed by President George H.W. Bush" -- and then match that up with supposedly contradictory facts.

It's entirely partisan and slanted, of course; on the other hand, it's quick and after a fashion it's akin to the real-time truth-squadding that media organizations like to try.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the liberal Alliance for Justice provided potentially useful 'fact sheets' concerning various topics coming to the fore during Sotomayor's hearing. Background helps.

Law schools find hearings like Sotomayor's a decent chance at building name recognition, for both school and individual professors. Southern Methodist University, for one, is offering up several professors with different expertise levels. These can certainly be useful for reporters; not to give away any cheap journalism tricks, but Suits & Sentences will note as well that law schools and think tanks can help themselves and reporters by including a canned quote or two within the release.