"Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can."
According to the New York Times, that's the instruction a staffer on Mary Peltola's Senate campaign got from top campaign aides.
Call it a scavenger hunt with one item on the list.
Peltola, a Democrat and former congresswoman, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Alaska voters will now find a second Dan Sullivan on their ballot, a retired teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. People who spoke to the Times on the record said he had no interest in running for office until somebody gave him one.
The second Sullivan says he got in on his own. Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee deny recruiting him. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has sued over the ballot, and a criminal probe is picking up speed.
A campaign allegedly combed an entire state for a man with the right name to confuse voters days before an election. Most anchors would know where to start.
CNN's Dana Bash opened her segment with this: "Unsurprisingly, he seized on the new reporting."
"He" is President Trump.
That's like covering a bank robbery by leading with the security guard who yelled "Stop!"
Bash had the alleged name hunt, the denials, the federal lawsuit and the criminal investigation to choose from. She picked Trump's reaction. And "seized" is a loaded word. It makes noticing a scandal sound like grabbing something that isn't yours, as though Trump invented the outrage himself.
He didn't. The New York Times broke this story, and nobody has ever mistaken the Times for a MAGA newsletter.
Trump said what most people thought when they read it. He called it fraud and perjury and said, "I think they should be prosecuted." CNN's anchor treated that as the headline.
Conservatives have a name for this move: "Republicans pounce." A Democratic operation gets caught doing something brazen, a Republican points it out, and the pointing becomes the story.
One viewer summed it up online: "Trump wasn't supposed to notice. That wasn't part of the plan."
The real story is sitting on CNN's own website. Its reporters are covering the Justice Department's investigation. Its political analysts wrote that Alaska Democrats "just handed Trump a political gift." Bash still opened with the President's reaction.
If Republicans had sent a staffer to round up a second "Mary Peltola" for the ballot, CNN would call it an attack on democracy. Every Sunday show would lead with it, and nobody would bother explaining how Peltola "seized" on it.
The order of events is simple. A campaign staffer allegedly got told to find Dan Sullivans. A second Dan Sullivan landed on the ballot. The Justice Department sued. The President said people should be prosecuted. And CNN opened with the word "seized."
Alaska votes Tuesday. Check the middle initial.