Senate Campaign Ad Triggers Lawsuit

ABC News On Campus reporter Zach Ferriola-Bruckenstein blogs: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina released an advertisement this week linking her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, to the Godless Americans political action committee, the self-described advocates for atheists’ rights. Watch it HERE. While negative  attack ads have become the norm in this heavily contested race, this ad in particular has garnered national attention, as well as a vehement response from Hagan. Hagan responded Thursday with an ad of her own and a lawsuit against Dole. In the suit, Hagan “seeks the restoration of her good name and reputation in addition to compensatory and punitive damages for the defendants intentional use of the defamatory advertisement.” With just a few days remaining until Election Day, an unofficial survey at the University of  North Carolina-Chapel Hill turned up seven of the 20 students interviewed for this article who were aware of the ad. The other 13 had not heard about it at all. Of the seven students, five had already voted for Hagan and held a negative opinion of the ad. Kevin Wohlgenant, a senior economics major, said he was disgusted with Dole’s tactic. “The ad was ridiculous,” Wohlgenant said. “It was obviously pandering to her base.” Michael Krouse, a junior philosophy and biology double major, is still undecided on his vote and is waiting for all the facts to be presented about the controversial ad. “I don’t like negative campaigning in general,” Krouse said. As for Hagan’s counter ad and lawsuit, “Dole should have spread all  the facts and presented the entire truth," he said. "If Hagan’s claims are true, she is in her full rights to make her rebuttal and bring a lawsuit against her.” The seventh student who’d heard about the ad  said he had already voted a Republican ticket and didn’t view the ad as inappropriate. Thomas Carsey, professor of political science at UNC, said that this particular ad is not unprecedented. “I think it is comparable with some of the more negative ads that have been out. This has been a pretty hard-fought race,” Carsey said. But he did note that this ad is somewhat different from previous attack ads. “This most recent ad, trying to link Hagan with atheism, may be worse than the typical ad because it is very personal in nature and has nothing to do with policy positions,” he said. Carsey believes that Hagan’s legal response is a strategic maneuver. “She’s trying to define it in the media as beyond the bounds of acceptable,” he said. “My guess is that the actual lawsuit is unlikely to see the courtroom.” How effective the add will be is an open question, “especially when it is coming from the incumbent toward  the challenger," Carsey said. "This type of ad is likely to be interpreted in the media as an act of desperation. It’s not clear to me that this will help Dole.” What’s clear is that the ad appeared too late to affect many North Carolina voters. According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, as of Thursday night, 33 percent of the state’s 6 million registered voters had already cast ballots through early voting or absentee ballots. On a college campus such a UNC, most students take advantage of early voting as well. Carsey highlighted the point. “By definition these people cannot be influenced," he said. " The effect of these late October ads will be diminished by early voting.”