Visibility Index

The database company Factiva has helpfully disproved Virginia Fields's contention that she's not getting as much press as anybody else, with a ranking of how often candidates' names have turned up in print lately.

What else this statistic is good for remains a bit unclear.

Anyway, a Factiva spokeswoman writes, "Here is how the candidates fared from a media perspective during the week ending September 7, 2005:"

Michael Bloomberg - 93 media mentions Gifford Miller - 74 media mentions Fernando Ferrer - 74 media mentions C. Virginia Fields - 60 media mentions Anthony Weiner - 51 media mentions