There are probably a lot of reasons why Elizabeth Dole (R) lost her North Carolina Senate seat. Overall bad economy. A good campaign in the state by Barack Obama. High number of African-American voters. Kay Hagan’s effectiveness at painting Dole as having lost touch with her constituents.
But I choose to believe that, to some degree at least, North Carolina voters tossed Dole because of the despicable “Godless” smear ad that she ran against Hagan. The ad was just a horrible, mean-spirited attempt to make the voters think that the “godless” Hagan was secretly conspiring with atheists in Boston. Dole even tried to make viewers of the ad think that Hagan was secretly recorded saying, “There is no God.”
Just a despicable ad for which Dole should apologize. Running the ad in the first place tells you a lot about her character. Not apologizing for it will tell you the rest.