Why has Sen. Jesse Helms for so long been our country’s very favorite conservative senator? Why do we love him?

Let me count the reasons:

In every word and deed, Sen. Helms embodies solid conservative principles. No one else in the Senate, no one at all, comes even close to his reputation for selfless, steadfast adherence to every tenet of our conservative philosophy. Name the issue, and I can tell you how he will vote. Name the issue. Free enterprise. Limited government. Strong national defense. Traditional values. Name the issue. Jesse Helms is predictable.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms forces votes on issues the leftists don’t want to vote on. Time and again, year in and year out, Sen. Helms has been the only conservative prepared to make the Senate vote on conservative issues where most politicians are on the opposite side from the American people. Think about all the leftist senators who have been defeated by more conservative challengers since 1972. It’s a fact. Jesse Helms made every one of those leftists vulnerable. He gave them all voting records their challengers could run against. Jesse Helms makes democracy work.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms is powerful because his word is good. In business, anyone with a good credit record finds it easier to get things done. In politics, anyone who keeps his word finds it easier to accomplish important things. Sen. Helms is trusted when he merely nods his head affirmatively. Too many other politicians can’t be trusted, even before a notary public. No amount of pressure ever forces Sen. Helms to break his word.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms is a great expert on the Senate rules. He uses those rules assiduously to protect conservative values. Just a hint from Sen. Helms about extended debate works wonders in the legislative process. I can tell you from my personal experience inside the Reagan Administration that a high percentage of the conservatives who won appointments in the State Department got their jobs because of Sen. Helms. Uncounted times, he held up the nominations of leftist pets until conservative appointees were cleared. He used his skill and clout as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee to inject conservatives into the resisting bureaucracy in Foggy Bottom. In fact, more than any other senator, Jesse Helms got conservatives policy jobs in all parts of the Reagan Administration.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms is a great communicator. Yes, I know some media leftists say he talks as if he had a mouth half full of oatmeal. But he talks over their heads, directly to the American people, in language they understand. He moves people’s hearts and minds. He speaks out for the permanent things the late Russell Kirk revered. Sen. Helms can tell a moving story and move a crowd to tears. He can inspire a crowd to patriotic fervor, even after they have been numbed by years of leftists propaganda.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms has been instrumental twice in electing conservative colleagues to the Senate from North Carolina. In fact, Sen. Helms is generous with his time and efforts in behalf of conservative candidates all across America. If you’re a solid conservative, he’ll help you, without asking in return anything more than that you stay conservative if elected. In 1976, Sen. Helms breathed life into a dying Reagan presidential nomination effort, keeping that effort alive until the national convention and paving the way for the nomination and election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. And he helped President Reagan revitalize the American economy, strengthen our national defense and bring about external defeat of international communism and the internal collapse of the Soviet Empire.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

More than any other American politician, Sen. Helms helps grassroots conservative organizations get started. He serves on good advisory committees. He speaks at fundraising dinners. He signs fundraising letters. He recruits hundreds of thousands of new conservative activists. He defends conservative groups against attacks on the floor of the United States Senate. There would have been no conservative movement worthy of the name without Sen. Helms.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms takes special interest in young conservatives. Some of us in this room knew him long before he was elected to the Senate. He spoke to us and inspired us at College Republican, Young Republican and Young Americans for Freedom meetings when we were young. He retains that focus today and gives special help to groups which today are training a new generation of conservative leaders.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Sen. Helms is a modest man. He’s immune to Potomac Fever and Statesmen’s Disease. He’s a living example of an exception to Stan Evans’ Law that when our people get where they can do us some good they stop being our people. He lives simply. He can’t be bought off by an invitation to a White House state dinner. He doesn’t care if the leftist media attack him when he does the right thing.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

Finally, Sen. Helms is good for business for the nation’s dentists and doctors. Leftists gnash their teeth to the gums as, election after election, Jesse Helms wins and wins and wins and wins. Dan Rather, Bryant Gumbel, Ted Kennedy and now Bill Clinton get such heartburn thinking about Sen. Helms that Maalox will do them no good. They have to go to their personal physicians for prescription medicine.

That is why we admire and love him. And that is why he’s the conservative leftists love to hate.

In fact, of course, we love him far more than leftists hate him.

And I’m sure, in their heart of hearts, the leftists do respect him. Jesse Helms would ask for nothing more.