RALEIGH, N.C. - Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July.

Helms died at 1:15 a.m., said the Jesse Helms Center at Wingate University in North Carolina.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said few senators could match Helms' reputation.