U2 singer, Jesse Helms discuss AIDS

Bono and Helms

By Dana Bush
CNN Capitol Hill Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U2 lead singer and activist Bono called Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina a "brave and bold man" for inviting him to lunch Wednesday to discuss the African AIDS crisis.

"It's an extraordinary thing, I will admit, to have Jesse Helms to throw a lunch for you," said Bono. "You know it's bad for both of our images."

Bono said he was impressed that Helms "cares deeply about what is happening in Africa right now" and that "there is a move here in the Capitol to do something more historic about it. ...

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"I'm very humbled. I'm having my world turned upside down, and I'm surprised that people should be so generous in letting an obvious outsider in."

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"You'll never be an outsider. You'll always be a friend here," Helms quickly responded, shaking the singer's hand for the cameras.

The lunch, which took place in the Senate Foreign Relations reception room of the Capitol, also included Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tennessee., Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.