What were the voters thinking?
For some I know it was absolute anger and disgust with Elizabeth Dole. Perception is that Dole thought she “owned” that seat, so had no need to do much to defend it, and unfortunately she did little to change that perception. I have spoken with county GOP officers who left the Senate vote blank. They were so fed up with Dole that they would not vote for her (they didn’t vote for Hagan). I’m afraid Burr is next, because these same county people are having the same unsatisfactory discussions with Burr’s people they had with Dole’s. The State Party hasn’t had their listening ears on for a few years either, I hope and pray for better out of the State Convention in June when they elect the new State Chairman.
Doles’ death knell was that ad about Kay Hagan’s religion.
Whenever I sent Dole a message expressing my opinion, her reply, more often than not, showed me that she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. She has absolutely NO understanding of the Fair Tax bill, and she would have supported Cap & Trade. She was mostly RINO.
Did you read the various comments about her on the FR North Carolina board? Brutal!
I think Hagan’s main advantage over Dole was a wave of (alleged) anti-establishment sentiment. The next best thing to throwing a Bush out of office was being able to vote against a Dole.
Disagree on the ‘godless’ ad, but I will concede that it may have been naive to not expect the media to play along with Hagan’s faux outrage over it. However, Dole was behind in the polls well before that IIRC and blew it by having burnt through nearly all of her money early on.