THANK YOU, SENATOR HELMS.(Jesse Helms leaves at last)(Brief Article)

"With its constant turnover in membership and frequent shifts in party control, there is rarely anything as precise as an end to an era in the Senate. But Sen. Jesse Helms's departure comes about as close as it gets. Friends and foes of the conservative Republican icon from North Carolina agree on one thing: There will never be another quite like him."

"If 90 other senators had decided to retire, no one would have much cared. But in a chamber increasingly filled with ambitious millionaires, prodigious fundraisers and professional gasbags, Jesse Helms was something different: a man who stood for something."

Although it was not unexpected, given his age and failing health, Sen. Jesse Helms's announcement that he will not run again in 2002 cannot but sadden pro-lifers around the world. The 79-year-old gentleman from North Carolina was a tenacious, uncompromising champion of unborn babies who refused to capitulate to fashion, the (alleged) results of polls, or the editorial pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Helms announced his retirement August 22 in taped remarks shown on the evening newscast of WRAL-TV, where he cut his political teeth as a political commentator. The courtly Sen. Helms told his audience that he will have served 30 years in the Senate when his fifth term ends in January 2003.

"I would be 88 if I ran again in 2002 and was elected and lived to finish a sixth term. This, my family and I decided unanimously, I should not do - - and, ladies and gentlemen, I shall not."

The media response to his retirement announcement ran the gauntlet from quasi-respectful to vituperous. Many newspapers still fume that although Mr. Helms never won more than 55% of the vote, they could never topple "a man of bold colors and few pastels," as one reporter put it.

In every sense of the word a gentleman, Helms's departure evinced grudging admiration even from some with whom he agreed on virtually nothing, such as Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Ct.). It is "the power of his personality that makes him special as a force," Sen. Dodd told the Washington Post. "Helms's approval or disapproval carried a lot of weight because he had so many followers around the country. Putting aside the ideological argument, people like a sense of commitment. People knew if he was the only person on your side, he'd stick with you."