Dodd Cleared of Wrongdoing - Times Suddenly Remembers He's a Democrat

Now that Sen. Chris Dodd, liberal Democrat of Connecticut, has been cleared bythe Senate Ethics Committee of wrongdoing, has the Times decided it's safe to identify him as a Democrat again?

Here's the lead to Saturday's story [1]by David Herszenhorn:

The Senate Select Committee on Ethics on Friday cleared two senior Democrats of receiving improper discounts on mortgages fromCountrywide Financial, the home lending giant.

The senators-Christopher J. Doddof Connecticut, chairman of the banking committee andKent Conradof North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee- had come under scrutiny after it was disclosed in June 2008 that they had been part of the "Friends of Angelo" V.I.P. program, named forAngelo R. Mozilo, Countrywide's chief executive.

With Dodd apparently in the clear legally, the Times suddenly manages to shake off its bad habit of forgettingDodd isa Democrat, a pretty important detail that the paper constantly left off when reporting on the senator's myriad ethical [2]woes [2].