Name that party

The New York Times ... among other news outlets ... is reporting that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been caught in a prostitution ring.

Spitzer is a Democrat, which really doesn't mean anything, since sexual misconduct isn't the domain of one party or another. Prostitution has been around a lot longer than Democrats and Republicans.

But here's why I mention his party.

The New York Times mentions it in paragraph nine.

In a late February story on a New York city councilman's rape charges, the Times mentioned the party of Dennis P. Gallagher, a Queens Republican, in paragraph two ... at the first mention of Gallagher's name.

Why the difference?

It certainly couldn't be because one's a Democrat (paragraph nine) and one's a Republican (paragraph two), could it?

That would mean the New York Times is biased.

Oh, wait. It is.