Mary Peltola. Politico/AFP.
President Trump and Senator Lisa Murkowski have condemned a new report that accuses Senate Candidate Mary Peltola of involvement in the false Dan Sullivan scheme. Politico. Incumbent Republican Senate Candidate Dan Sullivan is facing another candidate with the same name and the new report says that Peltola's campaign was behind the search for the 2nd Dan Sullivan. Alaska uses a ranked choice voting system and having two candidates on the ballot with the same name may confuse voters. Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, made the accusations that Peltola was absolutely aware of the scheme, and there was other evidence that confirmed her account, despite the fact that she tried to retract it. The Trump administration has already filed suit that will challenge the result of the election if the true Dan Sullivan does not win and the margin is small enough that the 2nd Dan Sullivan votes could change the outcome.
My Comment:
The two Dan Sullivans scheme is one of the most cynical things I have ever seen the Democrats do and it's a very strong argument against ranked choice voting. This story is a scandal and it's one that I hope costs Mary Peltola's chances to win next week.
Everyone already knew that the Democrats were behind this scheme. The only problem, and the reason why this story blew up so much to the point even President Trump is talking about it, is there was no proof until now. It was an open secret but now there is actual proof. Rios made the statement, retracted it, but that's not the only evidence provided. I think it's essentially confirmed to the point if a crime was committed here, a case could be made.
This could cause quite a bit of damage to the Mary Peltola campaign. Voters don't like efforts to actively trick them and it could anger enough moderates, or even some Democrats, that they could vote for the real Sullivan instead. I know in my case, if the parties were reversed, I'd be rather disgusted that my side was doing something like this. It's just such a scummy thing to do and proves that the Democrats only care about winning.
It also has the benefit of publicizing efforts to make sure folks vote for the right Dan Sullivan. To recap, the real Dan Sullivan has an S. middle initial, is marked as the Incumbent and has Republican on the ballot, while Dan J. Sullivan does not have the incumbency or GOP label. Having this scandal break a week before the election will hopefully educate anyone who would have otherwise been confused by this scheme.
It could also help efforts to end ranked choice voting, which is also on the ballot this year. Indeed, as I said before, this is a very good argument as to why ranked choice voting is a joke. I think people in Alaska will realize how bad this is and finally get rid of it. It was almost revoked in the last election and only failed by a few hundred votes, and given the news now, maybe this time it will succeed.
I think this is a good example of cheating while you were ahead. I think Peltola's chances of beating Sullivan are worse now with this scheme than it would have been if she had just run legit. I don't think she was really going to win regardless, but if she pulls it off now I would be very surprised. It's another reason I am pretty bullish on the Republicans keeping the Senate, I don't really think Alaska is in play anymore.
If she does win though, can anything be done? It really depends. If it's an extremely narrow victory and the results could have been different without the fake Dan Sullivan on the ballot? Then the lawsuit deployed by the DOJ will go through. Will it overturn the election results? I doubt it. The judge that did so would be painting a target on his back, and not just metaphorically. Especially if the result causes control of the Senate to change hands...
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