It is the day before the elections. It is the quiet before the storm. Everyone is poised to see what Trump will do next. Here in Connecticut, early voting is closed today.
Trump is trying to get his grubby little hands on the elections. So far, the courts have slapped his hands away.
The latest development came just yesterday, when Republicans once again got their hands slapped in Alaska. The brouhaha centers on candidates running for Congress with duplicate or nearly identical names—specifically, Daniel J. Sullivan.
So far, the courts have heard, and will hear, two state-court proceedings, one federal district-court proceeding, and a federal appeal. In the proceedings so far, the courts have ruled against the Republicans. And the odds are that they will lose their appeal as well. There was nothing illegal about Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy!
But there's another name on the ballot that you don't hear much about. He's also running for office, but against a Democrat. Perhaps that's why Republicans have been so quiet about him.
His name is Eric Hafner. He's sitting in a federal prison in New York, has never set foot in Alaska, and is running for Congress as a Democrat.
So I have three questions about the coverage of the Alaska brouhaha:
Political incentives: Which party benefits from highlighting each controversy?Media incentives: Which story generates more national attention, conflict, and audience interest?Editorial consistency: Why wasn't the Hafner precedent made a central part of the national reporting on Sullivan?
The third question is the biggie! It points out the hypocrisy of the Republicans and the news media.
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