Alaskan Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola dismissed The New York Times' investigation into her campaign Wednesday as a "distraction" to sell papers.
Page B47From§Eachthe evening edition — 29 October 2026
ZERO BALLOTS
Sullivan tells Alaskans to mark Decoy Dan, the candidate at the center of Thursday's grand jury subpoenas.
You will have read that the Justice Department prepares dozens of fresh grand jury subpoenas on Thursday, and you will have taken that for a development. Take it again. On 23 October that same Department asked a federal court to block certification of Alaska's Senate result — if the Republican incumbent loses. Only then. Senator Tillis found the outcome "appropriate to take a look at" on Sunday the 25th. By Thursday Chairman Comer had an Oversight investigation open and Governor Dunleavy was on television worrying aloud about a "cover-up". Four instruments in six days, and not a ballot among them. And Senator Sullivan, whose seat this grubby apparatus guards — what does he ask of Alaskans? That they decline to rank Mary Peltola, and fill in the bubble for the retired teacher whom a progressive super PAC was funding as of 19 October. Do mind what that instruction does. A ranked ballot with no surviving choice left on it is exhausted: set aside, unread, in the round that decides. He is not asking them for a vote. He is asking them for ... a bubble they do not get back. Peltola calls the report a "distraction". CBS News staff met it with "significant resistance". Tuesday counts what is left.
Noon, and the third fox walks the lane. A man takes down the lamp.
“So the lawsuit only bites if their guy loses, the subpoenas land six days out, and the same senator who wants a grand jury on Decoy Dan wants you to fill in Decoy Dan's bubble yourself. Four investigations, a governor hunting a cover-up, a House chairman with a letter, and not one actual vote counted by any of them. They're not fighting over a ballot, they're pre-writing the result — and Alaskans vote in six days.”
“Nobody is blocking any election — the Department simply asked the court to look at certification, conditionally, and conditional is not the same as, I mean, the condition happens to be a loss, but that is the Times' framing, not mine. Did I say framing? That does not sound like me. Look, the senator is just helping voters understand a confusing ballot, which is why he is telling them to fill in the bubble for the man his party wants subpoenaed.”
Earlier in this story
- Governor opens criminal probe into the one Alaska candidate whose win a federal suit seeks to void By Sterling · the morning edition, 29 October 2026
- Peltola's campaign was 'definitely aware' of its decoy scheme; DOJ needs an anonymous analyst to prove it worked. By Lou · the evening edition, 28 October 2026
- Justice Department prepares to nullify Alaska's Senate race only if Republicans lose; Democrats spent months engineering that outcome. By Lou · the afternoon edition, 28 October 2026
- DOJ sues to void an election only the Republican could lose, nine days before Alaska votes By Lou · the evening edition, 26 October 2026
- Attorney general calls three hosts misleading, crazy, and not a real question; the one from Trump remains unanswered. By Lou · the evening edition, 25 October 2026
- Attorney general declares Alaska's Senate race unfair; ballots challenged: zero, with nine days until the vote By Sterling · the afternoon edition, 25 October 2026
The receipts
The DOJ disbanded its crypto enforcement team in April 2025 and ordered inconsistent investigations closed - while the president's family runs a crypto business CNBC, 8 April 2025 (Blanche memo)
DOJ ramps up criminal probe into Alaska’s ‘Decoy Dan’, preps grand jury subpoenasThe Justice Department has dramatically escalated its investigation into the Alaska Senate race and will issue dozens of new grand jury subpoenas on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) said Thursday that he was concerned that Democrat Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign was engaged in a “cover-up” over its alleged scheme to prop up a spoiler candidate to confuse voters in the Alaska race.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) has directed Republican voters supporting him in Alaska’s Senate race not to rank Democratic candidate Mary Peltola on the ranked choice ballot. Alaska voters will see all four candidates plus a write-in option on the Senate ballot.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) launched an investigation Thursday into allegations that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign sought to recruit candidates to peel votes away from incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in the state’s Senate race. A New York Times report found that Peltola’s campaign worked with national…
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss faced resistance among staff at a meeting when talking about the New York Times' report on the Alaska ballot scandal.
Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign allegedly collaborated with party operatives to confuse voters in midterms The US justice department on Thursday is reported to have issued subpoenas in response to a report that the Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign collaborated with party operatives to get a challenger with the same name as the…
· Super PAC propping up ‘Decoy Dan’ Sullivan in Alaska exposed for getting Dem donor cash from the morgue, 19 Oct 2026
· Tillis says it's 'appropriate to take a look at' Alaska ballot with two Dan Sullivans running from the morgue, 25 Oct 2026
· Alaska ballot situation puts three Republicans against one Democrat in two statewide races from the morgue, 28 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.