Helms to retire at end of term

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, AUG. 23. After 30 years in the Senate, Mr. Jesse Helms, is calling it quits in 2002. The darling of the conservatives in the right wing and a red rag to the Liberals, the 80-year-old Senator has cited age as the reason for his stepping down when his current term expires 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... shall not'', Mr. Helms said in a broadcast from Raleigh, North Carolina. At the same time, the one-time powerful Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made it clear that he was not retiring right away.

``A great deal of work lies ahead of the United States Senate this fall and next year when there will be much significant legislation'', the Republican Senator noted.

When Mr. Helms retires, the Republican right wing would have lost a powerhouse on Capitol Hill, for among other things, Mr. Helms had the uncanny knack of tying up nominations by linking the same to further conservative causes. A powerful voice on Capitol Hill on foreign policy, Mr. Helms' departure would also make the anti- China lobby lose a ``dear'' friend. A relentless critic of Beijing, Mr. Helms was seen as one of the major voices for Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.

Mr. Helms was one of those on Capitol Hill who had called for better relations with India keeping in mind the China and democracy factors. He had mellowed his views on India over a period of time and several prominent Indian Americans in North Carolina backed him politically.

Mr. Helms was perhaps best known for his blunt foreign policy stances, making no bones of where he stood with respect to Cuba, Canada or the United Nations. For all his opposition to the world body, Mr. Helms played a crucial role in the final accord on payment of arrears to the U.N., but not before the then U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Richard Holbrooke, worked out a reform of the U.N. package. And recently, Mr. Helms became the first ever U.S. Senator to address the Security Council.

The significance of Mr. Helms' departure is not in Capitol Hill missing ``Senator No'', but in the jostling by the Republicans and Democrats for a ``real'' majority in the Senate. Conservatives who adored Mr. Helms for his hardline views on anything from school prayer to the homosexual agenda see the Senator as being hard to replace. And the Democrats and Liberals are studying if there is an opening to have the second seat as well from the State.

The Republicans are counting on coming up with a consensus candidate early on so as to keep the seat in the hands of the Grand Old Party. As many as 34 Senate seats are up for election in 2002 - 20 Republican and 14 Democrats. And this would include at least two open seats. The name prominently doing the rounds as successor to Mr. Helms is that of Ms. Elizabeth Dole, a former Cabinet member under Republican administrations, former Chairperson of the Red Cross and wife of the former Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Robert Dole.

With the Democrats eyeing for the best challenger in November 2002, the Republicans are anxious that a bruising primary in the event of Mr. Lauch Faircloth - who lost his Senate seat in 1998 to Mr. John Edwards - pursuing this race will certainly not be in the best interests of the party.

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