Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's "Godless Americans" ad was nothing more than a last-minute Hail Mary pass for a losing campaign.
That's according to Dole's campaign manager, Marty Ryall, in an article he wrote for the March edition of Politics magazine.
Dole, the GOP incumbent, ran the ad just before the Nov. 6 election against Democratic challenger Kay Hagan. It pointed out that Hagan attended a Boston fundraiser at the home of a well-known, politically active atheist. The ad ended with Hagan's photograph and a woman's voiceover saying "There is no God."
That voice belonged not to Hagan but to the executive director of the Godless Americans political action committee, speaking during a television appearance.
Looking back, Ryall said, he shouldn't have used the voiceover.
"It gave (Hagan) another avenue to counter-attack (the ad)," Ryall wrote.
He continues later: "In the end, the "Godless" ad had little impact on the election."
More after the jump.
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He says in the article that Dole was down by at least six points, and that the advertisement was unleashed in the hopes of energizing Republicans and raising negative opinions about Hagan among independents.
"The risk was huge and not worth taking until it was evident we could not win without it, and that was not clear until about 10 days out. Had the ad run about 20 days out, it may have made it closer, but the data we had at that time did not warrant taking such a large gamble."
Ryall adds that Dole was hurt both by negative advertising against her and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's work in North Carolina.
Document(s):
Ryall_hail_mary.pdf
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Re: 'Godless' ad was last hope
Everyone should have known when the voice of the woman in the ad wasn't nasally and grating it wasn't Kay Hagan's voice.