"We have come up with 162 different ways Republicans can try to mess with the elections, given they're sore losers.” - Rep. Pete Aguilar, CA
The interesting point to me is that the assumption was made that there were a [sizeable?] number of people who would be unable to actually read and understand the selections offered. The sample ballot clearly says who the incumbent is and what his political affiliations are. It would be impossible to deceive a literate voter with this 'trick'. - NY Times comment
Compared with the 1/6 attempted coup, this Dan Sullivan business is kid stuff. If not illegal, and there is no indication that this strategy was illegal, any tactic aimed at breaking the MAGA hold on our federal government is justified. - NY Times comment
Alaska’s ranked-choice voting provides a fairly strong
degree of protection against the unintended result the article described. There
will be four candidates on the ballot: Dan S. Sullivan, Peltola, Gerald Heikes
(R) and Dan J. Sullivan (I). The ranked-choice voting process would first
eliminate the candidate with the lowest vote total and transfer each of those
votes to the respective voter’s second remaining choice. The second step would
repeat the process for the remaining three candidates. It is very likely that
the two final candidates will be Dan S. Sullivan and Peltola. The only way a
vote for Dan J. Sullivan would be transferred to Peltola is if the voter had
ranked Peltola ahead of Dan S. Sullivan.
The Wall Street Journal's editors, tired of blaming Dems for super high prices and lacking the balls to expose an orange traitor, have found a new target for their ire. These weasels are now taking Traitor Trump's side in a lawsuit recently filed to block the AK Senate electoral result - IF the Reepos don't win. In their weekend Journal editorial, Exposing ‘Decoy Dan’ in Alaska, they go all in attacking Dems for "whining about a lawsuit exposing their dirty ballot trick."
The nattering nabobs of negativity squeal:
"Democrats pulled a dirty trick by enlisting a decoy, Daniel J.
Sullivan, to run against Republican Alaska Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. Now they are
indignant that the Trump Administration on Thursday filed a lawsuit that calls
attention to their subterfuge. Please spare us the lectures about election
interference.
The Justice Department lawsuit seeks to block certification of
Alaska’s
Senate election results if they “may be impacted by voter confusion.” “Daniel
J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot threatens to mislead Alaskan citizens who
want to vote for Senator Sullivan,” the lawsuit says. That’s the Democratic
hope."
One can hardly believe these asswits would go after this political coincidence - painting it as some kind of nefarious plot - when they've said nothing - not word one - about Vivek Ramaswamy’s vile campaign ad featuring his opponent (Amy Acton’s) mother. That hag actually lived with her 12 year old daughter’s rapist, and has now sought to accuse Amy Acton (D- candidate for OH governor) of lying.
In the ad, Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calls her “a liar.” Arthur and her daughter have not had contact since 1978, when Arthur’s second husband, Cledith Arthur, was indicted and charged with raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Acton and her brother were removed from the couple’s home because of the threat of continued abuse.
And the Journal's hypocrite editors said not one word about it? Well, probably because the WSJ editors prefer to continue to smooch Traitor Trump's ass. As we read in the (regular, main page) WSJ piece from Friday ('Trump Praises Ohio Ad Featuring Deomcrat's Estranged Mother', p. A3) wherein we read:
"President Trump defended an attack ad against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton that featured her elderly, estranged mother, calling it 'very powerful'. Also accusing Republicans who condemned the spot as playing into Democrats' hands."
As for the vicious little turd Vivek Ramaswamy, his campaign "plans to spend $4 million airing the ad", despite the bipartisan denunciations it has received, including from Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine.
The Journal article goes on:
"Trump's remarks came a day after Vice President JD Vance also defended the ad. He criticized fellow Republicans for 'whining' about the video saying that 'politics is tough business'."
Really? Then can we not also say the WSJ editors are also whining about the Dems in Alaska - by using a conspiracy meme to claim the Ds are "facilitating the entry of another Dan Sullivan into the Senate race". Even if real - as Vance said, 'politics is tough business'" - so why not get over it?. Besides, where is your outrage at the Ramaswamy maggots running a vile ad featuring a video of a woman who stood by her 12-year-old daughter's rapist even after the slime was indicted. So in other words, pussy grabber Trump is fine with supporting an ad which features the supporter of a child rapist.
While the Reeptards try to mount a bogus, distracting "investigation", let's try to temper the hair on fire bitching with a dose of reality - and GOOPr hypocrisy. Ballot-stacking strategies are common in politics and generally considered legal, if misleading.
But in the case of Alaska, the state's rank choice voting system already takes into account any flubs. Hence, AK voters could put down both Dan Sullivans, and the one with the fewer votes would be eliminated. (If they wish to make sure the R -guy wins, they check to make sure the 'R' is behind the name!) This, of course, applies to all elections. Thus, Republicans engaged in the dual tactic in Alaska this year, too, trying to prop up Democratic candidates in the Senate primary to siphon votes from Ms. Peltola. They also supported a legal effort in 2024 to keep a Democratic candidate on the same ballot as Ms. Peltola when she was running for re-election to the House. She went on to lose the race.
Back to the WSJ editor's claim that the presence of Daniel J. Sullivan is a Democratic dirty trick. Can we say horse shit here? Daniel J. Sullivan, who lives in the tiny fishing community of Petersburg, has always said he is running of his own accord. But given the stakes are high, and Republicans worry that voters will get confused and accidentally vote for the wrong Sullivan, they’ve been trying to get Daniel J. thrown off the ballot for months.
The lawsuit went all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court, but Republicans lost. Got that WSJ nattering nabobs? The REEPS LOST! Besides, why are you fools so worried when even a low IQ person can tell the difference between a D and and an R, and an I - behind a name on a ballot.
Long story short, Alaskan voters will see "Dan S. Sullivan" identified as a "registered Republican" and "incumbent" on their ballots, while "Daniel J. Sullivan Jr." will not have a party affiliation.
Former House Rep. Mary Peltola is the actual Democratic candidate. Not to leave their decoy codswallop at the end, the WSJ wombats interjected a new whine:
"Alaska's convoluted ranked -choice voting system increases the risk of voter confusion."
Say what? Ranked choice voting - used for Mensa officer elections - is the safest and most useful system there is. Had it been used in Florida in the Bush-Gore 2000 election, the fiasco that erupted never would have happened. In ranked choice voting three choices are made, i.e.
- Mr. A
- Ms. B
-Mr. C
The votes are then aggregated and ranking performed for A, B, C. The winners are the top two by votes (say Ms. B and Mr. C) who may then have a runoff election. This as opposed to a single, winner take all verdict- which could end up in a tie -then to be decided by congress or the Supreme Court (as Bush-Gore in 2000. As Wikipedia points out:
A voting system is winner-take-all if representation is only awarded to the candidate with the largest vote share. Since single-winner voting systems can only select one winner to represent all voters in a given body or district, all such systems are by definition winner-take-all.
At the end of the day the WSJ editorial whine fest is just another rhetorical 'storm in a teacup' done at the behest of bowing and scraping to their orange Overseer Trump. So Murdock's Morons aren't exposing anything except their own partisan B.S., so desperate are they to keep Trump's power unchecked so he can demolish what's left of this country.
So facing the outright and considerable repudiation of a reckless demagogue in next Tuesday's mid-term elections, the WSJ editorial trolls have little choice other than to defend this traitor and his party's odious policies and mode of campaigning. And likely their attempted interference when the dust settles post-election.
Update:
Amidst all the media kerfuffle following a NY Times report about a 'Democratic plot to recruit a 'spoiler candidate' we learn from the weekend (Oct. 31) Wall Street Journal (p. A4):
"There are no federal laws that bar the practice of ballot stacking, said Northwestern University law professor Michael Kang. 'If all Democrats did was seek spoiler candidates - even with the same name as the incumbent - I don't really see any kind of violation of federal law there.'"
Adding:
"Republicans who run elections in Alaska are also fighting the Justice Department's lawsuit, signaling they want to certify the Senate results based on the final vote tallies. If Republican Governor Dunleavy were to refuse to sign off on certification a court could order him to do so or allow someone else to do it, said Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller. Mary Peltola would then have a certificate of election to take to Washington 'that's treated like an admission ticket' Muller said."
And there you have it. Amidst all the distraction Trump's DOJ and the Reeps don't have a leg to stand on.
See Also:
Excerpt:
A federal judge on Sunday rejected the Justice Department’s
bid to hold up the certification of the results in Alaska’s Senate election in
the event of a Republican loss, cutting short an extraordinary legal
intervention in the race by the Trump administration.
U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason said she had no
authority to grant the department’s preemptive request to delay resolution of
the election if incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R) narrowly loses.
Another candidate with a nearly identical name, Dan J.
Sullivan Jr., is also running, which the department argued could confuse voters
and propel Democrat Mary Peltola to an unfair victory. The government said an
investigation would be needed to determine voters’ intent.
But in her written opinion Sunday, Gleason noted that the
department had offered no suggestion on how such an investigation could be
carried out while respecting the secrecy of voters’ ballot choices. Prolonging
finalization of results, she wrote, would itself prompt confusion and undermine
confidence in the outcome.
“The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling,” wrote Gleason, a nominee of President Barack Obama. “Simply, the Court cannot grant the United States the relief it seeks.”
And:
by Heidi Yewman | October 30, 2026 - 4:52am | permalink
So we’re using a woman’s rape by her stepfather at age 12 to win elections now?
The headline out of Ohio this week took my breath away. As I read the details, all I could think about was what it felt like to be 12 years old, worried I wouldn’t be believed. And I wondered what had happened to shame.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, released a campaign ad featuring his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother, calling her a liar.
What the ad doesn’t mention is that Amy hasn’t seen her mother since 1978, when she was 12 years old. That’s when she and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody after their stepfather was charged with raping Amy. Her mother remained married to Amy’s stepfather until his death in 2004.
And:
by Robert Reich | October 29, 2026 - 5:19am | permalink
— from Robert Reich's Substack
The Republican Party no longer has anything constructive to say about anything or anyone, so what is its closing argument in the 2026 midterm elections? Hate, fear, and bigotry.
On Sunday, Trump claimed that if Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won, he’d “invite hordes of jihadis to our shores.”
We’ve become so numbed to Trump’s bigotry that it’s necessary to remind ourselves that the president of the United States is now accusing an American citizen who’s running for the Senate of posing a danger to America because he’s Muslim.
Trump’s rants against Representative Ilhan Omar draw on the same Islamophobia. He’s launched a criminal investigation against her based on an allegation that she came to the United States fraudulently.
And:
by Allan Lichtman | October 31, 2026 - 4:32am | permalink
I have studied American elections for more than four decades, and I am wary of the word “unprecedented.” Pundits use it for every news cycle. But as the country heads toward the November 3 midterms, I cannot find another word that fits. Never in the era of modern polling has a president taken his party into a midterm with all four of these burdens at once: a deeply unpopular presidency, an economy most Americans say is failing them, an unpopular war, and pervasive public alarm about corruption.
Any one of these can cost a party dearly. Two or three together have produced some of the worst midterm defeats in our history. All four, simultaneously, is new territory.
And:
by Greg Palast | October 28, 2026 - 5:44am | permalink
No joke. No foolin’ around. The operation is in place to overturn the results of next Tuesday’s vote in the midterm elections.
President Donald Trump has already put the wheels in motion for a “legal” reversal of the voters’ choice in Texas, Alaska and other battleground states where the US Senate’s control is in the balance.
To understand the first step in their putsch plan, check out Episode 5 of Jim Crow Reloaded, 4 minutes exposing the mass challenge of 800,000 voters:
And:
by Alan Singer | October 29, 2026 - 5:06am | permalink
On Long Island there are four contested races for the House of Representatives. Two are currently held by Democrats and two by Republicans. The outcome on Long Island could well determine which party has a majority in the House. If you vote Republican for the Senate and House of Representatives, you are voting against congressional roadblocks on Trump.
If you vote Republican this is the kind of country you are voting for.
In a campaign speech in Port Huron, Michigan, Donald Trump accused the Democratic nominee for Senate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed of being a terrorist and claimed that if El-Sayed and the Democrats win, “they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadis to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas.” Trump also told American Jews that “any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves.”
And:
Professor Pape DIRE WARNING: Most Dangerous Election In History!
And:
Grotesque Ad Continues To Destroy Vivek Ramaswamy
And:
VIVEK IS F*CKED | The Kyle Kulinski Show
And:
Why
Legal Experts See the Justice Dept.’s Alaska Election Challenge as Dubious -
The New York Times
Excerpt:
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit pre-emptively challenging the
certification of Alaska’s Senate election if the Republican candidate narrowly
loses. But election law specialists said the litigation lacked any legitimate
legal basis.
“It is one of the weakest election lawsuits I’ve ever seen,”
said Richard H. Pildes, a New York University law professor who
specializes in election issues. “It should have no realistic chance of success
in the courts.”
Nevertheless, the lawsuit raised alarms as President Trump
has sought to undermine confidence in the election when polls indicate that
Republicans are likely to suffer sweeping losses, with control of Congress
hanging in the balance. Mr. Trump tried to overturn his loss of the 2020
election, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
The litigation centers on an oddity in the four-candidate
ballot. The incumbent Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, is being challenged not
only by the Democrats’ nominee, former Representative Mary Peltola, but also by
a novice candidate with almost the same name: Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.
Voters could mistakenly vote for the other Mr. Sullivan
instead of the senator. The lawsuit seeks a judicial order blocking the state
from certifying the results if Senator Sullivan loses to Ms. Peltola, but would
have won had he received votes cast for the other Mr. Sullivan.
No obvious legal authority supports a pre-emptive effort to
block the certification of Alaska’s Senate election if the Republican incumbent
narrowly loses.
Add:
Opinion | Despicable Doesn’t Begin to Cover It - The New York TimesBy now, you almost certainly know
the story. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor of Ohio,
posted an ad featuring a malicious attack on Amy Acton, Ramaswamy’s Democratic
opponent. The ad starred Acton’s own mother, a woman named Donna Arthur.
The family story here is evil. Arthur married a man named
Cledith Arthur, who became Acton’s stepfather. Cledith Arthur was indicted when
Acton was 12 for raping her. He fled the jurisdiction rather than face charges.
Donna lost custody of her children and — as Charles Hilu at
National Review reported — she has her own criminal history. She was
convicted of theft by deception in the 1990s and accused of animal neglect in
2021.
It’s hard to imagine a more cruel and evil act than raping a
child. There is no betrayal greater than the betrayal of a child by a parent.
And then Ramaswamy compounded that betrayal by wielding that evil mother as a
weapon against her own daughter.
Long ago we learned that there is no bottom for MAGA,
and there is still no bottom to this scandal. If Ramaswamy had a molecule of
decency, he would take the ad down and apologize. Instead, he attacked Acton. “It is an ad from our campaign,”
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