U.S. Senate, North Carolina: Hagan boots GOP's Dole

By Mike Baker

RALEIGH, N.C.

Democrat Kay Hagan knocked Elizabeth Dole out of the U.S. Senate after just one term in office on Tuesday, perhaps ending a storied political career for one of the biggest names in the Republican Party.

Dole conceded the race in an emotional speech to her supporters at a rally in Salisbury, during which she recalled some of the highlights of her lengthy career as one of Washington's most powerful women.

"It has been an honor and a joy to represent the people of North Carolina," Dole said. "I have done my level best to make you proud."

The 72-year-old Dole declared she wasn't ready for retirement, and asked supporters to pray for her opponent. She offered to help Hagan with the transition, marking an amicable end to what was a bitter campaign.

Hagan was a little less cordial in her acceptance speech, continuing to emphasize her campaign message that Dole was an absentee senator. And she praised her supporters for helping wage a successful bid to unseat a household name that many had considered safe.

"What we were able to accomplish in a little more than a year is a testament to how hungry people are for change," Hagan said in front of a rowdy crowd of supporters at Greensboro Coliseum.

Hagan, 55, was a little-known state senator from Greensboro when she entered the race to unseat Dole one year ago. But national Democrats eager to reach a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate rushed to her aid with millions of dollars in advertising that tarnished Dole's name and left voters with the impression she was ineffective and out of touch.

Dole, of Salisbury, responded by putting some $3 million of her own money into the race as she tried to maintain her seat just six years after winning it. But to voters, Dole's stints as a two-time White House cabinet secretary and one-time presidential candidate appeared less like a resume and more like a rapsheet in an election defined by change. She is married to Bob Dole, former Senate majority leader and 1996 GOP presidential nominee.

Hagan is a state lawmaker who rose through the ranks of the General Assembly to become one of North Carolina's chief budget writers. Her consistent and safe campaign had a simple strategy: She introduced herself to as many voters as possible through a stream of television ads and a campaign van that took her back and forth across the state.

Dole's 11th hour ad campaign, which questioned her rival's decision to attend a fundraiser at the home of an atheist activist, appeared to backfire on the candidate. The initial ad concluded with a photo of Hagan while another woman's voice declared in the background, "There is no God."

The ad drew condemnation from Republicans and Democrats alike. Hagan responded with a lawsuit and a forceful ad of her own that defended her personal faith and cited the 9th Commandment in declaring that Dole was "bearing false witness against fellow Christians."

Dole said Tuesday she was not happy with the tone of the race, particularly noting the spending from outside the state on advertising sought to tear her down. But she voiced no regrets in how she defended her seat. Still, voters indicated that Dole's final ad may have doomed her chances.

Charlie Murphy, 69, of Knightdale said former Sen. Jesse Helms' infamous ad from 1990 that showed white hands crumpling a job rejection letter while a narrator slammed racial quotas was more acceptable than Dole's spot.

"It was one of the worst I've ever seen," Murphy said. "Even the 'white hands' one wasn't over the line as much. It was over the line, but not as much as this one."

Hagan's victory came with the strong support from women, blacks and young voters.

An Associated Press exit poll showed than Hagan received more than half of the vote from women, while Dole only got the support of two in five women. Seven in 10 voters under the age of 29 also supported the state senator along with nine in 10 blacks and nearly six in 10 voters making under $50,000 a year.