Reflecting on his recent quest for the White House, U.S. Sen. John Edwards mentioned his former colleague and fellow Raleighite in less-than-flattering terms.

"Two years after Jesse Helms left the U.S. Senate, when people think about North Carolina now, they don't think about Jesse Helms," said Edwards, drawing lusty cheers at the Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Cary last month.

There are at least two ways to interpret that remark: One, that Edwards believes he has supplanted Helms as North Carolina's most famous politician. Or two, that Edwards presents an alternative image of the state.

Those who saw Helms as a symbol of the old cotton South may see Edwards as a product of the new post-segregation South. But my hunch is that Helms is still the state's best-known political figure.

U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin used to hold that title by virtue of his role as the storytelling, Bible-quoting chief inquisitor in the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon in the early 1970s.

But at some point during his 30-year Senate career (1973-2003), Helms surpassed Ervin on the celebrity meter.

Whether that is a good thing or bad thing depends, of course, on your politics. Few people are neutral about Helms, who has always been a lightning rod.

He was disliked by the left -- and beloved by the right -- for opposing abortion, civil rights legislation, efforts to extend legal rights to homosexuals and federal subsidies for artists, particularly those whose work offended middle-class sensibilities.

Helms, 82 and in retirement in Raleigh, was a political street fighter who was always ready to rumble.

For years, the bumper sticker on many a Volvo had versions of this sentiment: I'm from North Carolina and I didn't vote for Jesse Helms. Helms was such a national commodity that liberal and conservative groups used his name to raise money for years.

While campaigning for president, Edwards would often play the Helms card by saying he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 by defeating the Helms political machine. A surefire applause line was when Edwards told Democratic crowds that he is now the senior senator from North Carolina -- not Helms -- and isn't that a good thing?

The Helms name could still elicit boos from Democratic audiences in Wisconsin.

Edwards, who lives just a few miles up Raleigh's Glenwood Avenue from Helms, is unlikely to become as famous as Helms unless he ends up on the national ticket -- either this year or in the future. Helms was on the national stage for 30 years, Edwards for only six so far.

Despite Edwards' comment to the Democrats, I don't think most people around the country think of either Helms or Edwards when North Carolina is mentioned. The Tar Heel state is more likely to conjure up images of basketball, tobacco, NASCAR, universities, barbecue, beaches and mountains.

If you asked a Minnesotan or an Arizonan to name a Tar Heel, they would probably mention the Rev. Billy Graham, actor Andy Griffith or basketball player Michael Jordan.

After all, when someone mentions Massachusetts to you, do you think of John Kerry or the Boston Red Sox?