Not according to Dole it doesn't. This woman needs to go back to KS!
Inflammatory ad alters race’s tone
Thursday, October 30 (updated 8:02 am)
By Mark Binker
Staff Writer
LEXINGTON — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has been wrapping up public appearances most of this year by asking her audience for their time, money and spiritual resources.
“And I want your prayers,” the Salisbury Republican said at a campaign stop in Lexington on Wednesday. “To have that undergirding, that prayer network means everything. We’re going to work hard, pray hard, and God willing, we’re going to have a great victory on Tuesday.”
So maybe it’s not surprising that the final front in Dole’s bruising re-election battle against Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan is a war of words over faith and religion. A television ad by Dole that implies Hagan would support a “Godless” agenda promises to set the tone for the remaining days of the campaign.
The claim is an inflammatory one in a Bible Belt state, even one that has seen an influx of new residents from places where Wednesday Bible study and Sunday dinner on the church lawn aren’t the norm.
For most of the campaign, Hagan has been on the attack, charging that Dole visits North Carolina too infrequently and is ineffective at her job. The pair differ on some issues, but the heart of their argument revolves around who is better equipped to lead.
In interviews Monday, before this latest dust-up, both women said religion played a key role in their upbringing and helped make them into the people they are today. Unlike Dole, Hagan typically does not refer to her faith in campaign speeches. Both women have regularly attended Sunday services in various communities while campaigning across the state.
The commercial Dole launched Tuesday put Hagan on the defensive for the first time by linking the Democrat to Godless Americans PAC, a group that advocates taking God out of the Pledge of Allegiance and off U.S. currency.
The end of the commercial features Hagan’s image while a female voice says, “There is no God.” The voice belongs to the political action committee’s executive director, but there is no way for a casual viewer to know that it isn’t Hagan.
“I never, ever thought I would be calling a press conference in front of my church,” Hagan said Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church on North Elm Street. “I really can’t begin to tell you how upset I am. She has attacked my faith, my Christian faith.”
Hagan said she has sent her rival’s campaign legal documents demanding she cease and desist airing the ads.
Dole said she had no plans to take down the ads.
“I think Kay Hagan needs to explain to people why she did that, why she would … make the trip to Boston and go to the home of the founder of the Godless Americans PAC,” Dole said Wednesday after a campaign event in Lexington.
The commercial’s claim is based on a fundraiser Hagan attended in September at the Boston home of Wendy Kaminer and Woody Kaplan. Kaplan is one of the PAC’s founders.
Hagan’s campaign points out that the PAC did not sponsor the event. It was organized by ActBlue, a group that raises money for Democrats, and the event had some 30 hosts listed on an invitation. And the PAC didn’t contribute to Hagan’s campaign.
Dole and her campaign staff argue that Hagan is still beholden to Godless Americans PAC because she took campaign donations from individuals associated with the group and those individuals played a role in organizing the fundraiser.
“This kind of divisiveness, fear-mongering for lack of a better term, has a history of success,” said Jason Bivins, associate head of the philosophy and religion department at N.C. State.
In presidential campaigns in the 1790s and 1800s, claims of atheism dogged Thomas Jefferson’s efforts to win the White House.
And religion and debates involving religious themes have served as wedge issues throughout the 20th and now 21st century, he said.
“This is a register of panic,” Bivins said. Republicans, he said, have found themselves in close battles for states they typically win handily, including North Carolina. Targeting an opponent’s faith, he said, “is a swing for the fences move.”
Caught in the middle of the back-and-forth are local atheists, who have seen their particular set of beliefs maligned.
Robert Eldrege, who works with the College Foundation of North Carolina and is studying for his master’s at UNCG, said Dole’s attacks are “bigoted” against nonbelievers. He also noted that Hagan’s instinct was to highlight her religious credentials.
“That’s opposed to saying, 'Yes, I’m a Christian. But so what? You’re attacking a whole group of people. ... I’m a little upset Hagan didn’t talk about that,” Eldrege said.
When pressed as to whether the Godless Americans PAC might have a valid point of view, Dole shook her head.
“When you want to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance — no way,” she said.
Hagan’s immediate response has been to emphasize her standing as a church elder, Sunday school teacher and lifelong churchgoer. Her news conference at First Presbyterian featured her former minister and was attended by supporters willing to testify to her involvement in church activities.
Becky Veraar said she has known Hagan for 15 years and, until the advent of the campaign, regularly attended Wednesday morning Bible study classes with the candidate.
“I was appalled,” she said of the commercial. “I see some desperation in it as the election campaign comes to an end.”
Eliezer Havivi, the rabbi of Temple Beth David, said he is a friend of Hagan’s and traveled with her on a trip to Israel once. He recalled rounding a corner and seeing for the first time the Sea of Galilee — a central setting in the Bible’s account of Jesus Christ.
“Kay’s reaction was one of delight. She drew her breath,” Havivi said, imitating the sound. “It was a sound that could only come from someone who has a lifelong love of Jesus.”
Hagan has used Dole’s attack to appeal to supporters for last-minute donations, so she can continue airing two campaign commercials responding to Dole.
It is unclear what affect, if any, the exchange over religion will have in final days of the campaign. Public polls have shown Hagan leading or within the margin of error throughout the past month. But a Mason-Dixon poll, which was commissioned by Raleigh television station WRAL and reported Wednesday, showed Dole pulling ahead.
Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record
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