Kay Hagan sues Elizabeth Dole over "Godless" television advertisement

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Kay Hagan, a North Carolina State senator and the Democratic challenger for Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole's U.S. Senate seat, has filed a lawsuit accusing Dole of defamation and libel.

The lawsuit spawns from an ad recently aired by the Dole campaign which accuses Hagan of attending a fundraising event hosted by the Godless Americans Political Action Committee in Boston, Massachusetts and accepting money from the group.

The end of the ad shows a picture of Hagan while another woman's voice, meant to sound like Hagan's, announces, "There is no God!" The ad also shows a few second long video clip allegedly showing Hagan at the event. The ad also shows various comments the group has made, including an attempt to take "in God we trust" off American currency and God out of the U.S. pledge of allegiance. According to the ad, Dole personally "approved the message".

Hagan is Presbyterian and teaches Sunday school and has since answered to Dole's ad with one of her own. Hagan says that Dole has "crossed the line".

"Christian faith guides my life. Attacking my faith won't fix this economy and this campaign should not be about bearing false witness to fellow Christians," says Hagan in her October 31 ad.

Hagan currently leads over Dole with margins ranging from a 2% lead to a 9% lead, the website RealClearPolitics currently averages it as a 3.4% lead.

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Sources

Kay Hagan. "Kay Hagan: Belief" — YouTube, November 1, 2008
Mike Baker. "Religion jabs lead to lawsuit in NC Senate race" — Associated Press, October 30, 2008
Foon Rhee. "Boston fund-raiser at center of 'godless' blow-up in North Carolina Senate race" — The Boston Globe, October 30, 2008
"Dole challenger irate over suggestion she is 'godless'" — CNN, October 30, 2008
Elizabeth Dole. "Promise" — YouTube, October 29, 2008
"North Carolina Senate" — RealClearPolitics, October 29, 2008

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