U.S. Senate Candidate Kay Hagan filed a lawsuit Thursday against Elizabeth Dole and the Elizabeth Dole Committee, Inc., after Dole declined to remove her new television ad that calls Hagan "godless."
Hagan filed a lawsuit Thursday in Wake County Superior Court after Dole declined to remove the ad from the air.

Released this week, Dole's ad questions why Hagan went to a fundraiser at the home of a man who serves as an adviser to the Godless Americans Political Action Committee.

The ad ends by showing a picture of Hagan while another woman declares in the background, "There is no God!"

Hagan is a Presbyterian church elder who teaches Sunday school. She responded with an ad Thursday in which she forcefully declares her faith in God.

Hagan Campaign Communications Director Colleen Flanagan said the campaign cannot allow someone to "slander Kay Hagan, impugn her character, her convictions and her faith, without any consequences. In filing this suit, we've made clear that these kind of despicable tactics will not be tolerated, and our campaign is moving forward with the most important task at hand: defeating Elizabeth Dole, and giving North Carolina's families a voice in the U.S. Senate that they've been sorely missing."

Hagan's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist order to Dole's campaign, saying the "libelous" ad should come down within 24 hours. The order promised legal action if the ad stays on the air.

"It is so unbecoming of a woman like Elizabeth Dole," Hagan said. "This is a fabricated, pathetic ad. How dare she attack my faith. Is Elizabeth Dole that desperate to keep this Senate seat?"

A Dole campaign spokesman said Wednesday they had no plans to remove the ad from the air.

"It's silly and ridiculous," said spokesman Dan McLagan. "Clearly the Hagan folks are panicked that they got caught going to a fundraiser with a group that the vast majority of North Carolinians would find objectionable."

In response to the suit Thursday, McLagan called it a "smoke and mirror" move. 

"This lawsuit is frivolous and we will file a motion to dismiss. Kay Hagan knows that the Dole Campaign ad is accurate and she is trying to confuse voters until Election Day. Yesterday she threatened to sue to get the ad off the air. After realizing that they could not get an ad pulled that is 100 percent factual, they have resorted to court room gimmicks. Hagan's so called 'lawsuit' is merely a motion to file a suit within 20 days, well after the election."

McLagan also said Hagan's new response ad is incorrect about her voice being mimicked.

"The voice in the ad is that of Ellen Johnson, the Executive Director of the Godless Americans and is featured prominently in the ad."