A True Believer: Helms held dear the conservatism that propelled Reagan to the presidency

RALEIGH (Winston-Salem Journal) - For 16 years, Jesse Helms and John McCain served alongside each other in the U.S. Senate.

One was the usher of a conservative movement that brought Ronald Reagan to power and aligned the Republican Party with the religious right. The other now enters the 2008 election carrying the mantle of conservatism but hardly conforming to the Helms mold.

"It's hard to predict what exactly Helms would say about McCain's presidential aspirations, but he was always very suspicious of pragmatic elements in the Republican Party," said William Link, whose biography of Helms, Righteous Warrior, was published this year.