Sue first. Lose later. That is the new order of operations.
The Justice Department filed suit Thursday, less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election. It wants Alaska blocked from certifying a Mary Peltola win if Daniel J. Sullivan stays on the ballot. Sen. Dan Sullivan has not lost yet. The lawsuit is a smoke detector installed in a house that has not caught fire.
Trump confirmed authorship Friday. "I'm the one who said do it," he told reporters in Florida. Credit where due. Most people deny the lawsuit. He submitted it for peer review.
Now the facts. Daniel J. Sullivan is a retired teacher from Petersburg. He says he ran on his own. Republicans say he is a Democratic plant. The Alaska Supreme Court already declined to remove him. Alaska's Republican officials decided how he is listed. He appears with no party label. The senator appears as the Republican incumbent.
So the ballot tells you which Sullivan is the senator. The DOJ says that may not be enough. Peltola's answer is that Sullivan thinks Alaskans are not sophisticated enough to know who they are voting for. Alaskans who fish for salmon in the cold, apparently cannot read the word "incumbent."
The polling average, per MS NOW's partner FiftyPlusOne, has Peltola up 49.7 to 47.7. That is a two-point lead. The DOJ's own filing admits a realistic chance the outcome turns on the second Sullivan. Read that again. The government is suing on behalf of a margin it is not sure exists.
Retail traders love a free option. Here is one. The premium is the democratic process. The strike is whatever Sullivan needs. Expiry is Nov. 3. Buy the dip in your own civic literacy.
A retired teacher from a fishing town has now been sued over, in effect, by the full weight of the federal government. He is not even the main character. He is a name tag.
Two men named Dan Sullivan are on the ballot, and the federal government is the one who cannot tell them apart.
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