The XX Factor: What women really think.

RU Ready? That Depends: How Voting Is Like Dating

Just a year ago, the burning questions before us were whether we as a nation were ready to elect a black president, and whether we were ready for a woman in the White House. And in a sense, what we learned since then was yes and yes. Because even though Hillary Clinton didn't win the election, her supporters so clearly saw her gender as a plus that it would be hard to argue that she would have won had she been a man.

But in a larger sense, I think what we learned is that these weren't ever the right questions, because it's only when the right person shows up, at the right time, that we're ever ready to elect him or her. Just like that's when we're ready to marry. (And yes, I do see everything relationally; you were expecting maybe a sports analogy?) You know that guy you dated for 8 years who just wasn't ready to commit -- until three minutes after you broke up? On paper, Americans were never going to be ready for a Democrat without a hint of a southern accent whose middle name was Hussein. But then we met him, got to know him, and found to our own surprise that we felt differently; it was a go after all.

That's how it will happen with a woman, and an Indian-American, and any other person of hyphenated heritage. (Maybe someday, we will even fall for one of those Godless Americans Elizabeth Dole referred to in her final campaign ad.) We prefer to look at candidates as the sum of their policy priorities; to do otherwise would be to suggest that voters are what Rachel Maddow would call ‘post-rational.' But voting for president is a decision of the heart as much as the head - a reality that Republicans seized on long ago, and that Democrats - or one Democrat, anyway -- now seem to understand, too.

Ungodly Ad Ends Dole's Career

Then She Ate Her Godless Ice Cream From a Tiny Godless Cup

The good news is, we may finally have located the floor, the how-low-can-you-go spot where it's the negative campaigner who falls to the ground, embarrassed and wishing he or she had known the limits of voter tolerance for crazy ads. The bad news is, the gal down there on the linoleum with her Spanx showing is Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who should have opted for a classier exit from politics than this derriere-over-teacup insult to the believer's intelligence, an instantly notorious TV spot claiming that her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, met secretly with "Godless Americans'' and took "Godless money.'' Sure, because there were a couple of atheists among the several dozen people who hosted a fundraiser for her in Massachusetts. Unknown if any witches were on hand. Also unfortunate: Hagan felt, probably rightly, that she had to respond with an ad reassuring North Carolinians that she does believe in God and used to teach Sunday school. So should these two settle the race with a God-off Bible bee? God forbid.

Update: Incredibly, though Dole has taken a hit in the polls since putting up the first ad, she's just responded to Hagan's defense with a second ad, Godless 2, in which a narrator asks, "If Godless Americans threw a party in your honor, would you go?'' Maybe; would there be cake?

I'll See Your "Godless" and Raise You an "AWOL"

Excellent post, Melinda! Are you starting a contest to ferret out the scummiest campaign tactic? Because that could keep us busy from now until Tuesday, when we'll be sitting around twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the exit polls. I think your Elizabeth Dole ad wins because it's a national race, but I've got my own little submission for scummiest campaign claim, even though it's not an ad. (Hat tip to Joel Mowbray at Townhall.com.)        

Josh Mandel is a young Republican (wow, I feel old) who won a spot in Ohio's General Assembly in 2006, representing a heavily Democratic district in Cleveland. He was a former Marine who had served in Iraq. In 2007, the Marines asked him to voluntarily re-enlist. As he puts it, "I didn't join the Marine Corps to say no when my country called." So he went, and he returned home in April of this year. Now, up for re-election, challenger Bob Belovich is questioning his dedication to his constituents, and Belovich's wife admits she told voters that Mandel went "AWOL." She also said at a Democratic event that "Josh Mandel isn't serving our country; he's serving George Bush."

And this YouTube video features an audio clip of Belovich, best I can tell, accusing Mandel in his first campaign of trying to hide his party affiliation and capitalize on his "Jewish" name.