At Senate debate, Sullivan suggests Peltola had questions; moderator says no

Twenty minutes into Thursday's U.S. Senate debate, with Mary Peltola reading many of her answers from small note cards, Sen. Dan Sullivan stopped to ask the moderators a question of his own.

"We weren't supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?" he asked.

"No, sir," said Will Courtney of Alaska's News Source, one of the questioners.

"Neither one of you got questions beforehand," said moderator Lori Townsend of Alaska Public Media. "Absolutely not."

"I'm just watching my opponent, um, read from —" Sullivan said, as several people talked at once.

"Thank you!" Peltola said.

"Absolutely not," Townsend said again.

"I'm prepared!" Peltola said.

Sullivan quietly finished his sentence: "— questions that seem to be answered." The panel moved to the next question.

The exchange followed Peltola's answer on the cost of living, much of which she read from a card. Over the debate, she read from the cards during about half of her answers to the moderators' questions, according to an Alaska News review of the broadcast, and answered the rest without notes, including questions about the staff allegations against her and about President Donald Trump's decision last week to buy diesel from Russia. The text on Peltola's cards appears typed and set in bullet points, but it can't be read on screen.

Sullivan had notes, too. Both candidates read their closing statements. Peltola also read her opening statement, and Sullivan read his question to her and part of one rebuttal. But he answered the moderators' questions looking toward the camera, glancing down at his notes a few times, and he often looked at his notes or wrote while Peltola was speaking.

The debate, part of the "Debate for the State" series, was hosted by Alaska Public Media, KTOO and Alaska's News Source. It came four days before early voting begins in the Nov. 3 election. The rules announced at the start covered time limits and rebuttals and did not address notes.

The next question was about artificial intelligence. Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media's Washington, D.C., correspondent, asked whether tech companies can regulate AI themselves or what principles government regulation should follow. Peltola read most of her answer from a card. It covered AI's effect on jobs and energy costs and said data centers "have got to pay their own way." When her time ran out, Ruskin followed up: "Can I give you five seconds to please address the question about regulating AI?"

"Yes, AI should be regulated," Peltola said.

The questioners pressed Sullivan, too. Asked at the start of the debate what Congress could do to end the war with Iran, he spoke about Alaska energy production, and Ruskin told him, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear an answer." He replied that the U.S. should "open the Straits of Hormuz and make sure Iran does not get a nuclear weapon."

After the debate, Ruskin wrote on social media that Sullivan had clarified he did not believe the hosts gave anyone the questions in advance.