ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Political consultants have spent decades telling Americans that elections turn on the economy, the issues, and turnout. Voters in Alaska, who this fall are being asked to choose between two men named Dan Sullivan, have identified a fifth factor: the phone book.

One Dan Sullivan is Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, the two-term Republican who has represented Alaska in the Senate since 2015 and who describes himself, on the record, as “the real Dan Sullivan.” The other is a retiree from Petersburg, a small town in the southeast panhandle, who had almost no political experience before this year and whose name appears, in the same typeface, on the same ballot.

The New York Times reported this week that the campaign of Democratic challenger Mary Peltola and national Democratic operatives spent months trying to find, and then recruit, a second man with the incumbent’s name. A fired Peltola staffer went public with the effort, telling reporters that “Alaskan voters need to know” what had been done on their behalf.

President Trump responded with the urgency the moment demanded. “It has just been determined that the Democrats in Alaska illegally searched for, and recruited, a man named Dan Sullivan to run against our distinguished Republican Senator, Dan Sullivan, in order to defraud, confuse, and obfuscate the Election,” he posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. He then specified, twice, which Dan Sullivan he meant.

The Justice Department has sued the State of Alaska, arguing that two candidates with the same name could mislead voters, and asking a federal court to block the state from certifying the race if the incumbent loses by a narrow margin. A judge had already ruled once in the case — he declined to remove the second Sullivan from the ballot, finding that Alaskans are capable of reading their own ballot.

That last point is where the case gets interesting. Alaska runs a top-four primary, which means voters choose from an unusually open ballot, and in this race both Sullivans advanced alongside Peltola. A voter who simply wants “the guy for senator” must, in theory, consult a middle initial.

"We've started reading the middle initial out loud at the door. It is the most electricity anyone has ever generated around a period."

A local GOP strategist, who has worked three Sullivan campaigns and asked not to be named for legal reasons involving no one, called the recruiting effort “the most brutal ad buy I’ve ever seen, and it cost them about eleven dollars.” He was not being sarcastic. He was marveling.

THE SULLIVAN FIELD: A VOTER'S GUIDE

  • Sen. Dan S. Sullivan — Republican, incumbent, two terms. The middle initial is load-bearing.
  • Dan Sullivan — Petersburg retiree. No middle initial. Described by neighbors as "just Dan, honestly."
  • Mary Peltola — Democrat. The only candidate running under a name nobody else has tried to buy.
  • The Department of Justice — Asks the court to unscramble the eggs after the omelet, if the omelet wins by fewer than a few points.

The Sullivan camp has demanded that the challenger introduce himself as “Daniel Michael Sullivan” in all future debates, a request that Petersburg’s Dan Sullivan has met with what his supporters described as a shrug. He told a local radio host that he has had the name his whole life, that he filed his paperwork like anybody else, and that he “certainly didn’t go looking for anyone.”

Both statements are true. That is the part that has driven the lawyers to drink.

The general election ballot has already been printed. It lists four candidates in clear, legal type. Two of them answer to Dan Sullivan, and one of them answers faster.