Somehow, journalistic rules apply differently when applied to Republicans. I’m sure it’s not bias because journalists and editors assure us every chance they get that only FOX News is biased and everyone else is a dedicated, neutral professional. From ABC a few months back:

George Ryan: The former Republican [emph. mine, sayeth Michael] governor of Illinois and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Ryan, now known as Inmate 16627-424, reports today to a federal correctional center in Oxford, Wis.

Compare and contrast with Governor Eliot Spitzer, whom the Associated Press never identified as a Democrat.