CHRIS DODD COUNTRYWIDE UPDATE: The Senator and His V.I. Lawyers:

The senator has denied any wrongdoing and is cooperating with a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry into the matter, but reporters and political operatives alike have waited for months for Dodd or his staff to release unspecified documents they once promised would further demonstrate that he has done nothing improper. Those documents were originally expected in the height of last summer. We’re still waiting, and Dodd’s current position is to withhold any of those promised documents until after the Ethics Committee has finished with its investigation.

Remember, there’s no reason for him to wait to release those, except that he doesn’t want people to know what’s in them now. But has he lawyered up? Looks like it:

Dodd paid more than $60,000 to the politically connected Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie in the third quarter of 2008 out of his Senate campaign committee, according to public records. A December filing from his presidential campaign shows an additional $125,447 in outstanding invoices owed to Perkins Coie. (Kevin Rennie had the goods on how the money got from the presidential campaign over to the Senate committee — more Perkins Coie assistance.)

Some of this is for Countrywide representation, though it’s not clear how much.