No one could have won that Senate seat for the Republicans. The kiss of death was Obama’s campaign decision to target NC as a must win state and the massive drive that followed to register 250,000 new voters. Early voting doesn’t allow a candidate, once they are behind, to surge in the last week or two. Everything you said about Dole is true but she could have mirrored Ronald Reagan and still would have lost.
The correct answer then, is to target the process of early voting itself.