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GREENSBORO — Kay Hagan is not one given to self-doubt or fits of tortured introspection, at least not in front of reporters. The Greensboro Democrat, and U.S. senator-elect, developed a reputation as doggedly on-message and self-assured during her 10 years in the state Senate.

So when asked whether she had any regrets about her campaign to unseat first-term Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole , any moments when she thought she had made a mistake, Hagan pointed to just one.

“The only time I second-guessed myself was when I said 'no’ at first,” Hagan said as she was on her way to a television interview in Raleigh.

In early October 2007, Hagan had decided to run again for her seat in the state Senate, where she co-chaired the powerful appropriations committee. But “many people,” including former Gov. Jim Hunt , convinced her to jump back into the race by Halloween.

Outside pundits, particularly national columnists, originally wrote off the race as too steep a challenge for any Democrat, much less one well-known only in the Triad. But Hagan said she knew almost immediately that clinging to her comfortable spot in the General Assembly was a mistake.

“I never would have walked away from that if I did not truly think I could win this race,” she said.

On Tuesday, Hagan outpolled Dole, a rock star of the Republican establishment, by 9 percentage points, helping to give Democrats a more solid hold on power in Congress.

Party officials and political analysts say no one factor explains Hagan’s victory or the fact she outpolled both her party’s presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama , and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Bev Perdue.

Certainly Hagan can boast a formidable political pedigree. She is the niece of former Florida governor and senator Lawton Chiles, and a graduate of state Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight’s political finishing school in the legislature. The Manteo Democrat can boast that three of his close allies in the Senate won election to statewide posts Tuesday.

And there is little doubt that Democrats at all levels rode a national wave created by Obama’s aggressive campaign and voter antipathy toward the Bush administration’s economic and war policies.

As well, national Democratic organs and their allies poured millions of dollars in to the state, buying radio and television advertising that praised Hagan and tore down Dole.

But give credit to the candidate herself, said Jerry Meek , chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

“Hagan campaigned about as aggressively as anyone I have ever seen,” he said. “She was everywhere, at event after event.”

In a day and age when spending on television advertising can dominate campaign headlines, Meek said, Hagan invested in a ground campaign. Not only did she travel the state, but family members and political allies spoke for her frequently.

Guilford County BJ Barnes , one of the most senior GOP figures in Guilford County, said the Obama machine generally outflanked Republicans and Dole did not do enough to make up the difference.

“We were out-organized, I don’t think there’s any doubt in anybody’s mind about that,” Barnes said.

Barnes counts himself as a friend of Hagan and Dole. Dole, he said, did not run an effective enough campaign to combat “the perfect storm” of political factors raging against Republicans.

Rockingham County Chairman Dan Zeller concurred.

“I think Elizabeth Dole did not run hard enough or long enough for re-election,” he said. “She was a very busy senator doing things to help North Carolina, but she didn’t pay enough attention to running.”

Dole did not have much of a primary challenge and maintained a relatively low profile until after the May primary.

In the meantime, Hagan used a Democratic primary against four opponents to build her name recognition and test the themes upon which she would run the general election campaign.

Fair or not, Hagan crafted talking points that said Dole was an absentee senator, one who ranked low in effectiveness and was too closely allied with the Bush administration.

“I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Kay Hagan,” said Andrew Taylor , a political science professor at N.C. State. “To get support for her campaign, she needed to make the case pretty early that she could win.”

Early success in the polls helped her attract fundraising, which helped her gain in the polls, which begat yet more fundraising.

One fundraiser in particular dominated the campaign’s final days. In September, Hagan attended an event in Boston organized by ActBlue.

The fundraiser happened to be at the home of one of the founders of what was then called the Godless Americans PAC. Although the PAC did not organize the fundraiser or contribute to Hagan’s campaign, Dole seized on the event to say Hagan might sympathize with a “Godless” agenda, crafting a television ad widely regarded as one of the nastiest of the campaign season.

The last part of a commercial featured a picture of Hagan and a woman’s voice declaring, “There is no God.” Some officials say the backlash from the ad cost Dole the election, while others say she was already behind and not helped by the attack. Regardless, Republicans interviewed for this story said it was a mistake.

“It even offended me,” Barnes said.

Hagan is an elder at her church and responded to the ad by accusing Dole of “bearing false witness against a fellow Christian.”

By Wednesday afternoon, Hagan was already working to put the campaign behind her.

She had talked with Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr , who will become North Carolina’s senior senator in January.

“He and I talked about how we want to work closely together,” Hagan said. The election results, she said, should tell all politicians that they need to work past partisan differences.

Soon, Hagan said, she’ll begin the work of hiring a staff. And, she said, it was time to figure out how to implement the ideas she ran on during the campaign.

“I’m thankful to all the citizens of North Carolina who voted for me, and I want to earn the respect and confidence of all those who didn’t,” she said.

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