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RALEIGH — State Sen. Kay Hagan has sued her rival in the U.S. Senate campaign, claiming Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole defamed her with a campaign television commercial that implies the Democrat would support a “Godless” agenda.

“We said from the very beginning this was a very serious matter,” said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan. “Kay takes the defense of her faith and her public image very seriously.”

The lawsuit was filed in Wake County Superior Court, and Hagan’s campaign provided copies to reporters Thursday night.

The ad in question links Hagan to the Godless Americans PAC, a group that advocates for removing references to God from the Pledge of Allegiance and other areas of public life.

Dole’s claim is based on a fundraiser Hagan attended in Boston that was organized by the Democratic fundraising group, ActBlue. Although Godless Americans PAC was not a sponsor, the event was held at the home of one of the PAC’s founders.

Hagan is a Sunday school teacher and elder at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. She says the implication that she would back an atheist agenda is “personal slander. ... This is politics of the worse kind.”

A key line from Dole’s ad suggests Hagan may have made promises to the Godless Americans PAC in exchange for help with fundraising.

Dole said Wednesday she would not take the ad off the air, and a spokesman said Thursday the campaign stood behind the ad.

“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,” Dole spokesman Dan McLagan said in an e-mail Thursday. “The facts remain: Kay Hagan attended a fundraiser in her honor hosted by the founder of the Godless Americans. Kay Hagan accepted their money.”

During a news conference Wednesday, Hagan said she didn’t accept money from the PAC, and she had no idea what Godless Americans PAC was before Dole’s campaign raised the issue.

McLagan pointed out that the Dole campaign had criticized the event and its connection to Godless Americans before it was held.

Hagan was the second U.S. Senate candidate to file a defamation suit Thursday. In Minnesota, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman filed suit with the Office of Administrative Hearing charging that Democrat Al Franken had lied about the Republican’s record and residence.

The suit filed by Hagan does not seek an immediate stop to the ads, although Hagan’s lawyers did send Dole a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week.

Rather, it lays out the bare facts of the case and says a full lawsuit will be filed within 20 days.

“There’s a gray area with respect to defamation in this kind of circumstance,” said Scott Gaylord, a professor at Elon University School of Law. “The fact candidates have said nasty things about each other has a long, unfortunate history.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has laid out different standards for defamation that change whether someone is a public figure and whether the facts at hand are of “public concern.” Defamation cases involving exchanges between political figures are some of the hardest to win, Gaylord said.

Hagan, he said, would have to prove not only that Dole’s ad made a false claim but that her campaign knew the claim was a lie and aired it anyway.

“The (Supreme) Court has suggested there is some type of line there,” he said. “But they really haven’t set the clear lines on what that is, particularly in the political arena.”

Carter Wrenn, who was a political strategist for Sen. Jesse Helms and played a role in writing the infamous “Hands” ad — a 1990 commercial that played on fears about racial quotas in hiring when Helms faced a black opponent — said the lawsuit may have more to do with politics than defending Hagan’s reputation.

“Defaming a public figure is near impossible the way the laws are,” Wrenn said. “It’s just a way for Hagan to say she’s dead serious about the whole thing.”

But he added that Dole’s ad was a risky political move and could backfire.

“Where I thought it really went over the line was when they put Kay Hagan’s picture on the screen at the end,” Wrenn said. At the same moment, a female voice that is not Hagan’s proclaims, “There is no God.”

Most viewers, Wrenn said, would assume that the voice was Hagan’s.

“People will accept a fair amount of negative,” Wrenn said, “But sometimes you go over the line.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com