Group: Senate flier exploits Hassan's 'Muslim-sounding name'

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Muslim civil rights group says a campaign flier targeting U.S. Senate candidate Maggie Hassan associates Muslims with violence and exploits her "Arab and Muslim-sounding name," though similar mailers are targeting candidates in other states and Hassan's last name has Irish roots.

The flier sent by the advocacy group One Nation shows a family in a weapon's crosshairs and highlights Hassan's support of last year's deal to curtail Iran's nuclear program. It reads: "Radical Islamic terrorists are knocking at our door ... and Maggie Hassan's bad judgment could put our families at risk."

Hassan, a Democrat currently serving as New Hampshire's governor, is in a tight Senate race with Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte that could help decide control of the U.S. Senate. Her last name is pronounced HAS'-uhn but is sometimes mispronounced as hah-SAHN'.

The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has condemned the ad.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Group-Senate-flier-exploits-Hassan-s-10414530.php