Few people are neutral about North Carolina's senior senator.
Helms is a humanitarian in the view of former U.S. Rep. John Kasich, who introduced Helms to Bono, lead singer for the rock group U2. But to Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Helms is the last homophobe in Washington. Kasich recently left Congress, where he was the powerful House Budget chairman. He was briefly a GOP presidential candidate in 1999 and may run in the future. Kasich had befriended Bono, the Irish-born rock star, because of their shared religious faith.