THE LOVE CONNECTION

By MARGARET CARLSON

There's only one man in Washington who can stop Jesse Helms and possibly salvage Governor William Weld's troubled nomination to be ambassador to Mexico. It turns out to be a woman. Ever since her gooey confirmation hearings, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has made it her business to charm the courtly porcupine who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, eschewing the diplomatic handshake in favor of kissing his Moon Pie face (both cheeks) and interrupting her global travels to tour his home state, where she gave the Jesse Helms Lecture at Wingate University, Helms' alma mater. As Helms and Albright toured a bit of North Carolina together, they looked like an old couple trying to find a nice place to retire. Afterward, she gave him a T shirt inscribed SOMEBODY AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT LOVES ME. Two weeks ago, when he showed up at a Washington softball game between her staff and his, he was wearing it.

This would all be a postfeminist embarrassment if Albright's wiles hadn't been so successful. Bitterly opposed to the worldwide chemical-weapons ban, Helms relented during Albright's pilgrimage to Wingate and let the treaty proceed to a Senate vote, where it was ratified. Although Helms feels toward the United Nations about as warmly as he does toward gays and lesbians, at Albright's behest he is working on a bill to pay $819 million in back dues that the U.S. owes.

Now comes a real test of the Albright charm offensive. Because of Helms' opposition, the Weld nomination was considered dead on arrival when the White House formally submitted his name last week. In June, Helms had said publicly that the Massachusetts Governor was below "ambassador quality" and that he did not want to send drug-soaked Mexico a man he characterized as soft on drugs. (Weld approves of medicinal marijuana.) Although a fiscal conservative, Weld is too liberal on things like abortion and gay rights to pass muster with Helms. And the Senator still harbors a grudge against Weld, a former U.S. prosecutor, for resigning from the Reagan Justice Department in 1988 and taking a swipe at then Attorney General Ed Meese on his way out the door.

Weld's attempts earlier this summer to get a meeting with Helms, using Republican Senators as intermediaries, were all rebuffed. So the week before Weld was formally nominated he held an extraordinary press conference at which he challenged the White House not to "give in to ideological extortion." The White House hasn't. Just naming Weld is a gesture of Administration bipartisanship. And the fight over his nomination may touch off a gratifying round of G.O.P. fratricide in the Senate just when the civil war between pro- and anti-Gingrich forces is simmering down in the House. New bickering could show soccer moms just how small the G.O.P. tent is.

In an interview with TIME, Weld said he had heard that his challenge to Helms may have put the Senator's manhood at stake, but doesn't believe speaking out for yourself should be considered unforgivable effrontery. "If Senator Helms has questions about my drug policy, that's what God created hearings for. He shouldn't singlehandedly be able to stop them."

Weld's frustration comes in part from knowing that if his nomination were to get past Helms, he would win confirmation handily. But he's applying outside-the-Beltway thinking to a purely inside-the-Beltway situation. He underestimates Washington's willingness to negotiate with terrorists who happen to run committees, the clubbiness of the Senate, and majority leader Trent Lott's reluctance to buck Helms.

Weld is encouraged by a letter signed by all 45 Democrats and being circulated around Washington by Senator John Kerry, who defeated Weld in his '96 Senate bid. But that letter and $3 won't get a decaf latte out of Helms. A Helms spokesman commented: "No one who has held a news conference to criticize the chairman has become an ambassador."

When asked if Albright could make the difference, Weld says, "Undoubtedly." She and Helms like each other, although in Washington, a fake relationship, like the one she has with Helms, may trump a real one. A senior State Department official is eager to diminish expectations. "The Helms-Albright pairing is fun Washington stuff. But it's foolish to think that if the Secretary winks at Helms, Weld gets a hearing. It's up to Republicans."

Helms does require constant coddling. After a mild Washington Post piece last week quoted Democrats criticizing Senate Republicans for not confirming appointees more quickly, Helms took to the floor to tongue-lash the Administration. Republicans might wonder if such a man should hold all of them hostage to his whims and grudges. And if by some miracle Weld's use of force works, perhaps Albright will see that playing footsie with an ideological extortionist is a losing game--and rather than wink at Helms, take him on.