Liddy Dole slams Democrat foe's 'godless' pals

Image from Elizabeth Dole ad

Even many Republican strategists had written off GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole's campaign for dead, but a new anti-atheist ad campaign has dealt an eleventh-hour blow to her Democrat foe, Kay Hagan. And the outcome of their tightening North Carolina race could determine whether Republicans can hold onto the power to filibuster a Democrat-majority agenda in the Senate.

Dole last week made hay of a Sept. 15 fundraiser for Hagan hosted by an adviser to the Godless Americans political action committee. Hagan attended the event at the Boston home of Wendy Kaminer and her husband, Woody Kaplan, who sits on the advisory board of the Godless Americans PAC, an anti-religion lobby group based in Washington.

Dole says the relationship demonstrates that Hagan does not reflect the values of North Carolina, which is part of the Bible Belt and home to Rev. Billy Graham and his son Rev. Franklin Graham. Hagan declined to answer press questions Friday about the fundraiser.

Hagan's lawyer, R. Bruce Thompson II of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein in Raleigh, N.C., wrote to Dole demanding she cease broadcasting the allegedly "libelous advertisement."

"Kay Hagan has never taken any contributions from the Godless Americans PAC," Thompson wrote on her behalf. "Your advertisement features two members of the Godless Americans PAC: Ellen Johnson and David Silverman. However, Kay Hagan has not received any campaign contributions from these individuals."

While true, the denial does not tell the full story. According to FEC records reviewed by WND, Hagan did take $2,300 from Godless Americans advisory board member Woody Kaplan, who hosted the fundraising dinner at his home in Boston, and Kaplan gave an additional $47,600 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which is bankrolling Hagan's campaign and attack ads against Dole in North Carolina.

The DSCC has spent more than $4 million on advertising in North Carolina – more than in any other Senate race, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a political-data firm in Arlington, Va.

Godless Americans PAC has lobbied to take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance and remove "In God We Trust" from American currency. It also reportedly wants to eliminate the Christmas holiday and force the Boy Scouts to accept atheists and homosexuals as troop leaders.

In her TV ad, Dole ran clips of the group's executive director declaring "There is no God" and "There was no Jesus."

"If Godless Americans threw a party in your honor, would you go?" the incumbent senator asks North Carolina voters.

She "took godless money," Dole adds. "What did Hagan promise in return?"

You can see the ad here:

Dole's tactics in the Tar Heel State have been roundly criticized by Democrats, as well as some Republicans. GOP strategist Ed Rollins, who advised Presidents Reagan and Nixon, said she crossed the line with the controversial TV spot.

Dole "did something desperate," he said, "which is so despicable and so unlike Elizabeth Dole that she should be ashamed of herself."

Dole argued that she only ran the ads after advising in advance that it was wrong for Hagan to attend the fundraiser and yet Hagan went anyway.

"Why in the world" would Hagan still accept the invitation and attend knowing the host's affiliation, she asked. Dole also said Hagan has spent millions on ads attacking her and that her ad "turns the table on her."

The Hagan dinner host, Kaplan, is also the chairman of The Secular Coalition for America, which is "the national lobby for atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheistic Americans with the unique mission of protecting their civil rights," according to a group press release. His wife, Kaminer, serves as an advisory board member for the group. She also is author of "Sleeping with Extraterrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and the Perils of Piety."

Democrats view the North Carolina race as a critical part of their effort to gain a 60-seat majority in the Senate, a margin that could limit GOP filibusters.

A Rasmussen poll taken earlier in the week showed Hagan ahead by six points, 52-46. But a new survey taken after the anti-atheist ad controversy made news showed Hagan up by a smaller margin.

Kaplan, head of the Kaplan Group, also lists in FEC records his occupation as "provocateur" and an editor for American Humanist Association publications. He also gave the maximum donation to Barack Obama.

Kaminer, meanwhile, has given tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions to the Civil Liberties List, a project of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, which supports ACORN and other community organizing groups seeking "social justice."

"In North Carolina, Kay Hagan says she shares our values," a mailer by the North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee says. "But behind our backs she's the guest of honor at a fundraiser hosted by the most vile, radical liberals in America. We can't trust Kay Hagan to defend our North Carolina values."

Godless Americans' website says it supports candidates who are atheists.FriendlyAtheist.com and DaylightAtheism.org also endorse Hagan, who lists her religion as Presbyterian.

Hagan has filed notice of intent to sue over the Dole ad, claiming it is defamatory.

"Kay Hagan does not represent the values of this state," Dole campaign communications director Dan McLagan said. "She is a Trojan Horse for a long list of wacky left-wing outside groups bent on policies that would horrify most North Carolinians if they knew about it."

McLagan added that Hagan is out of touch with the God-fearing mainstream of North Carolina.

"This latest revelation of support from anti-religion activists will not sit well with the 90 percent of state residents who identify with a specific religious faith," he asserted.

He says that Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, has tried to cast herself as a moderate, but "the money that's paying for it is coming from the left-wing fringe of political thought."

McLagan added, "You can tell a lot about a person by their friends. And these are friends most North Carolinians would not be comfortable having over for dinner."

Hagan's campaign has been funded largely by labor unions bent on ending North Carolina's status as a right-to-work state, as well as liberal trial lawyers.

Hagan, 55, has run a constant barrage of attack ads against Dole, 72, painting her as too old and "ineffective" as a senator, and a clone of President Bush and his policies.