On the eve of the election, let’s take a look at the most interesting recent events.
Alaska
The New York Times recently reported that the campaign of Mary Peltola, the Democratic challenger for Senate, was involved in getting a man with the same name as the incumbent Republican senator (Dan Sullivan) run in the election. The candidate, herself, denies knowing anything about it, but it does raise several questions. And it turns out the fake Dan Sullivan hasn’t done any campaign events. He really is a fake candidate.
Alaska has a peculiar electoral system. First, they have what is called a “jungle primary.” (This is an option on the Massachusetts ballot.) In this system, candidates in the primary do not run for the nomination of a party, even if they are associated with a party. Everyone runs in the same race, three Democrats, a few Republicans, and any combination of Libertarians and Greens and whatever.
The Alaskan system allows the top four candidates in the primary run for the general election. But that’s not all!
In the general election Alaskans have a single transferable vote. This means they rank order the four candidates. If their first choice is not one of the top two vote-getters, officials look down at your second choice. If that person doesn’t have enough to make a difference, they look at your third. This whole thing can take a long time to work itself out, so we could be waiting a long time.
So, Alaskans can vote for Dan Sullivan and Dan Sullivan. But which Dan Sullivan is the one they really want to vote for? It could certainly be confusing. And although it is unlikely, there is a possibility that the votes for the incumbent Dan Sullivan could go to the fake Dan Sullivan.
And the balance of the Senate could rest on the outcome of this election!
Michigan
The Senate race in Michigan is getting a lot of attention because the Democratic candidate is Abdul el Sayed, who would be the first Muslim Senator. His win would signal another successful red-green coalition, the mayor New York being the first example.
Everything came to a head last week when el Sayed’s supporters posted an ad in which a couple in a grocery store talk about having to forego buying eggs because the money was needed to help the Israelis kill Palestinian children. There is a reason why accusations of Jews killing children in the context of food is an issue.
Jews have been accused of killing children for centuries, often leading to pogroms. A “pogrom” is usually a spontaneous attack on a Jewish population. The specific charge that they use the blood of children to make matza started in medieval England and is known as a “blood libel.” It led to the expulsion of all Jews from England in 1290.
Sayed refused to denounce the ad. A lot of people were very upset about both the ad and his apparent comfort with it. Significantly, his opponent in the Democratic primary, Rep. Haley Stephens (D, MI), endorsed the Republican candidate. This has caused a lot of consternation. Stephens has been denounced by many people who used to be very close to her.
This would have been a perfect example of an October surprise. The problem, as mentioned when I wrote about that phenomenon, is that a lot of people have already voted. It might have an influence on the outcome, but it might also be too late.
What’s Going on in Poland?
Poland is undergoing a significant crisis. On Friday, one judge on the Constitutional Tribunal (kind of like our Supreme Court) tried to suspend the President of the Tribunal (like the Chief Justice). Obviously, this didn’t go over well. Protests erupted almost immediately at the Warsaw courthouse and police were deployed to keep them away.
Here’s where things get interesting. The President of Poland turned his plane around while on a diplomatic trip to Africa. The Prime Minister of Poland tried to deny him landing rights, but the Polish air force ignored the PM and allowed the President to land. He immediately went to the court and tried to intervene.
Poland has a prime minister and a president, like France and several other countries. They are currently from opposing parties. Donald Tusk is the prime minister for the third time. Karol Nawrocki is the president, and a member of the party that held the premiership between Tusk’s last two terms.
There are a lot of issues that separate the two parties, but they can generally be lumped into pro-European Union and anti-European Union. Tusk is very pro-EU and was even President of the European Council between his second and third terms as PM of Poland. Nawrocki is a member of the anti-EU party.
The clash over the EU covers cultural issues, the role of the judiciary in a constitutional republic, economic policies, and the like. But one of the biggest issues has to do with whether or not to take their “share” of migrants who make their way to Europe. The anti-EU party refused to take immigrants from Muslim countries. With riots in France and other EU parties, this has become a big issue again.
Poland is a long way from this being resolved. As is so often the case, the most dedicated partisans on both sides will be the ones who decide the outcome. The problem is that a lot of these issues do not admit of compromise. One side or the other will win, which makes the fighting all the more intense. This could get ugly.
(un)Frozen Food
Hackers got into the control systems of grocery store freezers in several European countries. They turned the temperatures up to 50C, which is halfway to boiling! Millions and millions of euros worth of food was destroyed.
It seems these stores thought it was a good idea to have their freezers hooked into the internet. Looks like a bad idea now. (Spoiler alter: it always looked like a bad idea.)