Morning Frame is only available for paid subscribers. If you want to access the full daily briefing and impress your friends and colleagues with your keen understanding of shifting narratives, subscribe below! (DO IT)
Thursday, October 29, 2026
“You do it to yourself, you do, and that’s what really hurts.” That’s the chorus of the great Radiohead song Just (off their second, and criminally underrated album, The Bends), and it comes to mind as Democratic hijinks in Alaska is the wrong sort of October surprise they were looking for. The New York Times reported Wednesday what most people already assumed: that a Dan Sullivan on the ballot was recruited by state party officials to confuse Alaska voters (unable to read “incumbent” on the ballot). The Dans Sullivan gambit rarely works, and it looks like it might backfire here in a manner that could cost Democrats the Senate majority. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has turned to defending his Cheesecake Factory aesthetic following Barack Obama’s remarkably effective dig, and Vivek Ramaswamy’s disgusting rape victim exploitation ad continues to backfire on the GOP.
01. Democrats Shoot Themselves in the Foot as the Times Exposes Peltola’s Second Dan Sullivan
[Going Mainstream]. A second Dan Sullivan was supposed to be a coincidence. The NY Times found the campaign staffers who went looking for him, and now two investigations are, too.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that top aides to Mary Peltola told a staffer in the summer of 2025 to search Alaska’s voter rolls for men named Dan Sullivan. The paper reports the campaign’s lawyers and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee took part in regular conversations about what they called the “ballot composition project.” A retired teacher with the senator’s name made the ballot. A former campaign manager told the paper Peltola “was not directly involved” but was “definitely aware.” Rios was fired in August and tried to take her interviews back last week.
The Times report relied on interviews with eleven other people, but the campaign and the DSCC deny it. Donald Trump said Peltola “should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted.” Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to agree, saying on Fox News, “They are cheating.” An investigation into whether criminal charges are warranted has been ordered by Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy.
The Dans Sullivan story was dismissed by Peltola as “Stuff to sell newspapers,” which isn’t exactly playing in Peoria. Joe Scarborough said, “Her entire campaign lied about it.” Former Biden White House aide Megan Hayes called it “such an unforced error” on CNN. Fox & Friends opened both of its first two hours on it, and Brian Kilmeade said: “A lot of the media owe [Trump] an apology.” Polymarket cut Peltola odds of winning the race from 73 percent to 69 after the story broke.
TAKEAWAY: This can be filed in the “play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” category. Or, if this costs Democrats the Alaska Senate seat and a Senate majority? It will rise to “fuck around and find out” levels of historic proportion.