By now most of you have seen or heard about Republican Elizabeth Dole's disgusting and desperate "Godless" commercial attacking her front-running opponent, Democrat Kay Hagan.

Not only has Hagan fired back with an ad of her own (posted above), her campaign has now filed a defamation lawsuit against Dole and fiercely punching back against what has to be the lowest of campaign smears in the 2008 campaign cycle. From The Hill:

Democratic challenger Kay Hagan has filed a defamation lawsuit against Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) for questioning Hagan's faith in what is shaping up as the nastiest campaign of this cycle.

Hagan announced the lawsuit after Dole refused to remove the ad, which suggests Hagan is an atheist and has become the subject of tough criticism from several newspaper editorials in North Carolina. Several polls show Dole trailing Hagan, a state senator.

“Elizabeth Dole would love nothing more than to distract from the issues and her record for the last five days of the campaign,” Flanagan said. “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.” Read on...

People for the American Way has created an ad that is now playing in potential Democratic-pick up Senate seats, targeting Susan Collins (Maine), Norm Coleman (Minnesota), Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina), John Sununu (New Hampshire) and Gordon Smith (Oregon).

As part of People For the American Way's Save the Court campaign, we're running ads in key states targeting senators who voted against their constituents' interests by supporting George W. Bush's extreme judicial nominees.

The ads below call out senators who sided with Bush when it came to judicial nominees whose decisions had very real — and negative — impacts on families in their state.

I'm a member of PFAW. You can join as well, and your donation will help buy ad time and hopefully help us increase the Democratic majority in the Senate.

By the way, one of the reasons that Dole faces such a tough race? The perception that she is nothing more than an empty suit. In 2006, she only spent 13 days in her state and was rated by Congress.org as 93rd most effective senator. In a field of 100, that's gotta hurt.

While entities as disparate as Alaska Democrats and the National Review are calling for Ted Stevens to resign following his indictment yesterday, Marc Ambinder asks who else may be touched by this scandal.

Stevens himself promises to barrel on continue with his re-election campaign

"Senator Stevens' campaign for re-election is continuing to move full steam ahead. Our office has been flooded today with calls and emails from supporters urging the Senator to press on. The message from them is clear: Alaska needs Ted Stevens in the U.S. Senate."

Riiiigggghhhhttt. Meanwhile Rep Gordon Smith (R-OR) reported donated money to Stevens' campaign even after the investigation became known, and got some from Stevens in return. Jeff Merkley challenged Smith to return the funds to Stevens, something Smith initially agreed to do. But not so fast...It appears that Smith has decided to merely donate some ($10K) of the $39,000 he's received from Stevens, unlike his fellow Republicans Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu.

Could we see some further tainting of the Republican brand during this election? Mark Begich is running for Stevens' seat, he could sure use your support.

That's a head-to-keyboard sentence if I've ever heard one. Pam's House Blend:

Good god. Perhaps all that work on Liddy has caused something to snap. Out of all the people to try to honor in an Act dedicated to fighting AIDS, Elizabeth Dole spits in the face of LGBTs by proposing the now-dead Jesse Helms be added to the "Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008." Here's the Congressional Record:

SA 5074. Mrs. DOLE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 2731, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to provide assistance to foreign countries to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: On page 1, line 5, strike ''and Henry J. Hyde'' and insert '', Henry J. Hyde, and Jesse Helms''.

Why is this so unbelievably wrong on so many levels? Because of what Jesse Helms said about AIDS:

Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God says it all: Jesse Helms, the man who in 1987 described AIDS prevention literature as "so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1988 vigorously opposed the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, saying, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

Jesse Helms, the man who in 1995 said (in opposition to refunding the Ryan White Act) that the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct."

I don't know about you, but I smell a Worst Person in The World award going to one Liddy Dole for this crushingly insensitive move.

Raw Story:

U.S. President George Bush told the NHL champion Carolina Hurricanes Friday he likes to be "around people that keep expectations low," according to a UPI report Friday.

"Bush congratulated the 2005-06 Stanley Cup winners at the White House, noting the team was ranked 28 out of 30 at the beginning of last season," UPI said.

"I like to be around people that keep expectations low," Bush said. "Instead of listening to the prognosticators, this team had a 112-point season. They had 52 wins. They win the Stanley Cup. They're here at the White House. Congratulations to you."

Also attending the ceremony were former North Carolina Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr and Rep. Howard Coble, who was said to be sporting a championship hat.

"I thought you might be wearing that to cover up your bald head," Bush quipped.

If you read the full transcripts (available here), Bush also revealed that the Stanley Cup could hold 14 cans of beer.

This guy is just unbelievable. I posted about his insane Twilight Zone ad here-that caused him to pull it from his site. The Carpetbagger Report sent me this audio of a new one. Take a listen.

Download | play -MP3

It can't get any worse than that right? Think again.

Daily Kos continues:

The multi-page mailing begins by describing Vernon as the new darling of the Republican party and displays pictures of him with Jesse Helms and graduating from the Air Force Academy. Also featured are glowing quotes from Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin praising Vernon Robinson as the great black hope for the Republican party.

The adage that a man is known by the company he keeps is particularly true in the case of your Congressman. Brad Miller has gotten into bed with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, a 35-year old musician who was raised in El Salvador before moving to San Francisco---On December 8, 2005, Brad publicly stated that he wants Markos to "move to North Carolina nd run for the Senate in 2008". Brad's effort to recruit a militant homosexual rights advocate from San Francisco to move to North Carolina to run against Elizabeth Dole confirms that Brad doesn't understand the difference between San Francisco values and North Carolina values.....read on