Good morning, it's Thursday, Oct. 29. A new report says Mary Peltola's campaign helped put a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska's Senate ballot, six days before a race that could decide the Senate.

Also in today's issue: California keeps counting, Allies told to brace, Missing Epstein pages, The Fed holds, for now, A golf course fight.

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Elisa Rios ran Mary Peltola's campaign for the U.S. Senate in Alaska until she was fired this summer. On Wednesday, she confirmed to The New York Times something Peltola's team had denied for months. Six days before the election, it could shape the race that may decide who runs the Senate.

Start with the ballot. It lists Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Democrat Mary Peltola and a second Dan Sullivan. He's Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from the small town of Petersburg. Republicans have said for months that Democrats put him there to split the senator's vote.

Now the report. Citing about a dozen sources, plus texts and documents, the Times said Peltola campaign aides, the campaign's lawyers and national Democratic staff helped recruit him. Those staffers work for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party's Senate campaign arm. Operatives call this kind of effort a "ballot composition" project.

Why should the whole country care? Republicans hold the Senate 53 to 47, and Alaska is one of a handful of toss-ups. Peltola holds a slim lead in most polls. More than 60,000 Alaskans had voted early by Wednesday, before most of them could read the story. For everyone still deciding, the choice now includes a question of trust.

Peltola's campaign says it has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. The Democrats' Senate committee denies it too. The report doesn't show that Peltola herself directed anything. Dan J. Sullivan has said no one recruited him and that he's running because he disagrees with the senator. Peltola called the story a distraction from bills and health care.

Republicans moved fast. President Trump said Peltola "shouldn't be allowed to run" and should be prosecuted. Alaska's Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, ordered state police to investigate whether any laws were broken.

Here's the part that may surprise you. Recruiting a candidate isn't automatically illegal. A former lawyer for Alaska's elections office told Alaska Public Media that nothing illegal happened, because anyone can run. Outside groups spent more than $2 million this summer boosting unknown Alaska candidates to hurt major ones. The Republican National Committee says this case is different, because a matching name can confuse voters. It adds that a super PAC working hand in hand with the campaign would break federal law.

So the sharpest fight is over honesty more than law. Critics say a campaign that denied this for months misled voters. Defenders say both parties play ballot games, and voters can still tell the two Sullivans apart. One limit holds either way: no official can simply pull Peltola off the ballot. Alaska's courts already decided who appears on it.

Watch Friday. Judge Sharon Gleason could rule as soon as then on throwing out the Justice Department's lawsuit to delay certifying the result if Sen. Sullivan loses. If she tosses it, Alaska counts as usual. If she doesn't, a close finish could sit in limbo, with Wednesday's report at the center of it.

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California will keep counting about 20,000 mail ballots after a federal judge rejected the Justice Department's request Wednesday to set them aside. The department calls those voters "likely" noncitizens and wanted their ballots held until their citizenship was checked. Judge David Carter said the request breaks the constitutional rule that states run their own elections. He called the government's method for building its list unreliable. He also said threats against election workers must stop. "California and its people are sovereign, too," he wrote. Prosecutors argue that holding a ballot for a few days costs a legal voter nothing. They appealed right away.

The U.S. told Middle Eastern allies on Wednesday to prepare for possible new strikes on Iran after next week's midterms, two diplomats told the AP. Allies were also told to brace for Iranian attacks on their energy sites in response. President Trump hasn't made a final decision, and he has promised no strikes before Nov. 3. Iran called Qatar's latest peace ideas "unacceptable," though its foreign minister said diplomacy still has a chance. The same day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Joint Staff's top war planner. Hegseth accused him of leaking classified information about the Iran war. Sylvia is the latest in a series of generals Hegseth has removed.

The Epstein files mention classified material, a CBS News investigation found Wednesday. That cuts against Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has said nothing was withheld for national security reasons. One log shows "CDs with classified materials" delivered in March 2025 to the office Blanche then led. Gaps in the page numbers suggest tens of thousands of pages are missing. Those include 66 images of checks from Epstein's own bank accounts. Some gaps may come from removing duplicate emails, which department rules allowed. The department has said it released everything the law requires. Without a public list of what was removed and why, the public can't tell mistakes from choices.

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The Federal Reserve held its key interest rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday. It had raised rates in September for the first time in more than three years. Prices are still climbing fast: consumer prices in September were up 3.7% from a year earlier, pushed by Iran war energy costs. Two officials, Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, wanted another hike now. Investors widely expect one in December. That rate shapes what you pay on credit cards and other short-term loans. Meanwhile, average wages rose just 3% over the past year, slower than prices. Chair Kevin Warsh said the midterms played no role in the decision.

Washington's East Potomac Golf Course will close Nov. 15 for about 15 months, the Justice Department told a federal judge Wednesday night. The filing confirmed renovation plans President Trump had announced online, including a design meant to host events like the U.S. Open. Judge Ana Reyes had blocked more tree removal on Oct. 26. Part of her reason: officials from three agencies testified they knew of no such plans. She has ordered a senior Justice Department official to appear Friday to explain. Trump posted that Reyes would be held responsible for anyone hurt or killed on the "dilapidated" course. Supporters say the public course badly needs work. Critics say the new one will price out everyday golfers.

That's where mortgage rates climbed earlier this month, a three-year high, before easing slightly. With the Fed leaning toward another hike in December, cheaper home loans don't look close. The housing market has been in a slump for four years.

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