Godless Catfight--Elizabeth Dole And Kay Hagan Fight Over The Lord

In a campaign rife with ugly moments, Sen. Elizabeth Dole's new TV ad accusing Democratic state Sen. Kay Hagan, Dole's opponent for a U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina, of accepting "godless" money is one of the ugliest. It is emblematic of Dole's desperation mode in the final stages of what looks like a losing campaign for re-election.

Polls show the veteran GOP cabinet secretary, presidential candidate, and now senator running slightly behind a Democratic novice. That, more than anything, accounts for Dole's latest TV ad. The Washington Post reports that the ad accuses Hagan of taking money from an atheist political action committee and "ends with an image of Hagan on the screen and a female voice saying, 'There is no God.'"

The PAC calls itself the "Godless Americans PAC," which, quite frankly, is not the most eloquent way to describe itself. This group definitely needs a new copy writer. How 'bout: "The Freedom from Religion PAC" or the "Separation of Church and State PAC"?

What is perhaps the saddest aspect of this catfight is that Hagan felt compelled to wage a counterattack, defending her bona fide Christian credentials as a Sunday school teacher and believer. The South hasn't changed much at all, has it?

By Bonnie Erbe