CORRECTION

An item in the Under the Dome column on Sunday gave the incorrect location for a television ad attacking U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole. The ad was filmed at the Bynum General Store in Chatham County.

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A new ad attacking Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was filmed at a country store near Hillsborough.

Dome normally would not take much interest in the locale of a TV ad, but a number of readers and politicos have asked about that country store and just where it might be.

The ad features two men in rocking chairs talking about a low effectiveness rating that Dole has received for her work in the U.S. Senate.

Some folks have suggested that the ad also takes a few sly jabs at her age.

Dome suspects that those who asked about where the ad was filmed hoped to make hay if it had been filmed on some Los Angeles soundstage or elsewhere out of state.

But the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which sponsored the ad, has undercut that line of attack.

The ad was filmed at the Maple View ice cream store near Hillsborough.

The ice cream sounds pretty good too.

Shh ... don't mention it

Meanwhile, the ad has attracted attention beyond North Carolina.

On Newsweek's Stumper blog, Andrew Romano wonders whether such a line of attack could be used against Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

"The whole thing is a self-consciously transparent effort to mention Dole's age (and tie it to her supposed 'ineffectiveness') without actually mentioning her age -- like, say, starting a speech with a list of all the things you aren't going to say," Romano writes.

"And the actors' stilted delivery actually contributes to the effect, making the spot -- which exaggerates Dole's longevity by a two whole decades, after all -- seem like a delightfully dry SNL spoof."

Romano says broaching the subject of an opponent's age requires hired guns to "get creative."

Right time, right place

Pat McCrory had a good visit to the Frantz Automotive Shop in Cary on Friday -- he got his oil changed and picked up an endorsement from the National Federation of Independent Business.

At a news conference at the auto shop, the small-business group announced that its Save America Free Enterprise political action committee was backing McCrory, the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Before 60 onlookers, McCrory spoke about his father's small business.

Though Mr. Mac's Concrete Fix eventually was sold at hardware stores such as Lowe's, McCrory said his father struggled to deal with regulations and to provide health insurance for workers.

"He had a very difficult time," McCrory said. "Our house was mortgaged to the hilt."

McCrory said that, as governor, he would expand a tax credit for small businesses providing insurance coverage and work with the federation and other groups to create insurance consortiums.

He also said he would make it easier to dismiss lawsuits, saying they represent "almost a blackmail situation" that can paralyze a small business owner.

Meanwhile, Don Frantz had his employees change the oil in McCrory's car.

McCrory said he was driving to the event after spending the night at his sister's house in Raleigh when he realized he needed an oil change before returning to Charlotte.

"This endorsement comes just at the right time because my oil light just came on," he said.

OVERHEARD

'Earth to John: The National Enquirer now officially has more credibility than you do.'

- Longtime Democratic consultant Gary Pearce, an adviser to John Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign, in a blog post about Edwards' admission of an affair.

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