POLITICAL BRIEFING

TARGETING HELMS--As a black liberal, Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Harvey Gantt, a Democrat, will need all the help he can get in challenging three-term conservative Republican Sen. Jesse Helms this fall for his North Carolina seat in the Senate. And Gantt is expected to get plenty of help, especially campaign funds from gays and lesbians around the country.

The national gay community has a strong track record in fund raising, and its leaders regard Helms as their No. 1 political enemy. Resentment of Helms is based on the senator’s fervent opposition to gay rights and AIDS measures on grounds that they would encourage sodomy and homosexuality.

“I can assure you we will do everything in our power to support the candidate who is opposing Jesse Helms,” said Urvashi Vaid, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who noted that gay groups around the country collected about $2 million to help defeat a 1988 anti-AIDS California ballot initiative.

One danger: By accepting significant support from gays and other liberal activist groups from outside North Carolina, Gantt could hurt his chances of wooing the uncommitted, mostly conservative voters whose ballots will decide the election.