red herring

red herring
    n 1: any diversion intended to distract attention from the main
         issue
    2: a dried and smoked herring having a reddish color [syn: {red
       herring}, {smoked herring}]
    3: a first draft of a prospectus; must be clearly marked to
       indicate that parts may be changed in the final prospectus;
       "because some portions of the cover page are printed in red
       ink a preliminary prospectus is sometimes called a red
       herring" [syn: {preliminary prospectus}, {red herring}]
    

54 Moby Thesaurus words for "red herring":
      anguille, art, artful dodge, artifice, blind, caviar, chicanery,
      conspiracy, contrivance, coup, craft, cute trick, deceit, design,
      device, dodge, eel, expedient, fakement, feint, fetch, fish,
      fish eggs, gambit, game, gimmick, grift, intrigue, jugglery,
      kipper, kippered salmon, knavery, little game, maneuver, move,
      plot, ploy, poisson, racket, roe, ruse, scheme, seafood, shift,
      sleight, smoked herring, stratagem, strategy, subterfuge, tactic,
      trick, trickery, wile, wily device