Helms departure opens Senate race in N.C.

Republican officials are reportedly urging Dole to enter the race in her native state.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Jesse Helms' announcement Wednesday that he will not run for re-election to the U.S. Senate at the end of his term is expected to set off a shoving match among North Carolina Republicans hoping to take his place in the upper chamber.

Only one Democrat has said so far that she has eyes for the seat, but at least four GOP candidates are considered possible contenders for 2002.

Helms was first elected in 1972 and casts a long shadow over the North Carolina Republican Party. He is credited with building the party almost from the ground up after switching to the GOP in 1970, and party leaders want to keep the scramble for his seat from inflicting too much damage on the eventual nominee.

"We've had a lot of tough Republican primaries in this state, and I sure would like to avoid that," state party Chairman Bill Cobey said.

VIDEO Watch Helms announce he will not seek another term in 2002 (August 22) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Quotes show it's hard to be neutral about Helms   Time.com: What would a post-Helms Senate look like?     EXTRA INFORMATION Photo gallery: From firebrand to kingmaker   Timeline: A career chronology     RESOURCES Message board: Helms retirement   Message Board: The political spectrum     AUDIO Helms announces he will not seek re-election 204 k / 22 seconds WAV sound

The national party has reportedly approached North Carolina native and former presidential candidate, Cabinet member and senatorial wife Elizabeth Dole to run, and she has in turn expressed interest.

That could pit her against former North Carolina Sen. Lauch Faircloth, a southern Republican in the Helms mold who was defeated in his bid for a second term by Democrat John Edwards in 1998. Also mentioned as possible Republican candidates are U.S. Rep. Richard Burr and former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot.

Dole, a 2000 Republican candidate for the presidency who dropped out of the race before the primaries launched, is a native of Salisbury, North Carolina.

The wife of 1996 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, she served as secretary of transportation in the Reagan administration and as secretary of labor under President George H.W. Bush. From 1991 to 1998, she served as president of the American Red Cross.

Dole's government resume is extensive and includes professional stints at the Nixon White House as a deputy assistant for consumer affairs, the Federal Trade Commission, and the now-defunct Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Dole "starts ahead of the other candidates," said David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union. Whether she can hold onto a lead in a Republican primary campaign "remains to be seen."

"Her Second Amendment positions would lose her the primary in North Carolina unless she modifies them," Keene said, referring to her support for some gun control, including a ban on assault rifles.

Critics already are taking aim, noting that she has never won an election and has not lived in North Carolina for years.

"She hasn't voted here for years. She doesn't pay taxes here. She doesn't live here. So I don't consider her a North Carolinian," said Elaine Marshall, North Carolina's secretary of state and the only Democrat to have expressed interest in the race.

Dole's advocates note that former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was a first-time New York resident when she won that state's Senate race in 2000.

Faircloth, meanwhile, is a friend and ideological soul mate of Helms. He was elected to the Senate in 1992, keeping a close watch on the Clinton White House as the complexities of Clinton's Whitewater land dealings in Arkansas were probed by the Banking Committee and by a succession of special prosecutors.

Faircloth was active in the Senate probe, often focusing on the suicide of White House Counsel Vince Foster. When the GOP took control of the House and Senate after the 1994 midterm elections, he was instrumental in the creation of the welfare reform bill eventually signed into law by President Clinton.

Like Helms, Faircloth is a former Democrat. He turned to the GOP in 1986, saying he was too conservative at heart to remain in the Democratic Party.

In a statement issued even before Helms' announcement, Faircloth made it clear he would not be deterred from challenging Dole. He said the choice of the next senator "should be made by North Carolinians, not by Washington D.C. politicians."

Burr, a native of the tobacco-rich metropolitan area of Winston-Salem, is a strong backer of the state's embattled tobacco industry and the thousands of North Carolina farmers whose livelihood has depended on it.

Another staunch conservative, Burr was one of a handful of Republicans to vote against the 1997 balanced budget accord struck between the congressional GOP leadership and the Clinton White House.

Vinroot comes to the race with credentials similar to Helms' former Democratic rival, Harvey Gantt. He served as mayor of Charlotte, the state's largest city, from 1991-1995. He ran for governor of North Carolina in 2000 but lost to Democrat Mike Easley, the state's former attorney general.

Vinroot played basketball for revered University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith -- a gold star in a state where college basketball is on almost everyone's mind all year. He also served in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star.

As a city council member in Charlotte and as mayor, Vinroot developed a reputation as a moderate willing to consider both sides of an ideological divide.

On the Democratic side of the ledger, Marshall said she would have considered a Senate bid whether Helms had decided to retire or not.

Marshall, an attorney and the first woman ever elected to the state post, counts among her accomplishments her support of North Carolina's 4-H programs. She has previous experience as a teacher and small business owner, and serves on North Carolina's Local Government Commission, and Economic Development Board.

-- CNN's Jonathan Karl, Ian Christopher McCaleb and Matt Smith contributed to this report.