On this much everyone agrees: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is a rock star.

Former secretary of labor and transportation. Former head of the American Red Cross. Wife of former presidential candidate. First female senator in North Carolina. Household name.

But as "Behind the Music" showed, sometimes being a rock star is not a good thing.

Consider the furor that erupted across the Internet yesterday when Dole attempted to rename an AIDS bill after Sen. Jesse Helms, starting with the Huffington Post and making its way across countless liberal blogs to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Some of that is lingering liberal anger over Helms. (Dome still gets a handful of e-mails a day from supporters of that guy who resigned over lowering the flag.) But the story also made the rounds because it was linked to Dole, another familiar name.

It's not easy to get the rank-and-file invested in a Senate race in a far-off state, but it happens. Consider the 2006 elections, when Virginia Sen. George Allen, something of a frontrunner-in-waiting for the Republican presidential nomination, became Target No. 1.

Now look at the other incumbent Republicans up for re-election this year: Sens. Pat Roberts, Roger Wicker, Gordon Smith, Ted Stevens, Susan Collins, John Cornyn and Jim Inhofe. None are as well-known as Dole.

With the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sending a $6 million signal that it considers North Carolina in play, a lot of Democrats in New York and California are going to start daydreaming about taking down another rock star. 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole tried to name an AIDS bill after former Sen. Jesse Helms.

The Salisbury Republican introduced an amendment to add Helms' name to the title of a $50 billion bill to combat AIDS as well as malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. The amendment never came up for a vote.

Helms went through a personal evolution on AIDS policy.

As a deeply conservative senator, he often drew the ire of gay activists for opposing needle exchanges and saying that all AIDS cases could be traced to sodomy. Late in his Senate career, he changed his view on foreign relief programs and teamed with Irirsh rock star Bonot to work on AIDS relief.

After the Huffington Post reported on the amendment attempt, word spread through the blogosphere, with many citing Helms' quotes and record on AIDS policy.

A Dole spokesman said the amendment wasn't considered because it was introduced too late. (N&O) 

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller was one of about 20 lawmakers who met with President Bush at the White House today to hear a report about Bush’s recent trip to Africa and to discuss legislation to fight HIV/AIDS on that continent.

Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, traveled to Africa last year, Barb Barrett reports.

The House foreign affairs committee this week passed legislation to spend $50 billion on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa in the next five years. It now goes to the full House floor, and then to the Senate.

The bill includes language from Miller that tries to ensure the money is spent according to the latest scientific knowledge about treatment and prevention. Miller has a separate oversight bill on the issue as well.

That one echoes scientific language in the authorization of funding, and also would require a five-year strategic plan on improving operations of the HIV/AIDS program.

Clay Aiken was spotted at a Jenna Bush book signing.

According to a piece in The New Yorker, the former "American Idol" singer and current UNICEF ambassador "was hiding in a corner" at a launch party for Bush's book, "Ana's Story."

He was impressed with the book, which tells the story of a H.I.V.-infected teen in Latin America.

"I read it on the plane to Afghanistan," he said of the book. "I was quite impressed. I remember thinking she must have had a ghostwriter, but she didn't. She did it herself."

Aiken had a co-writer on his 2005 book, "Learning to Sing."

The Senate has killed a needle-exchange program in the state budget.

Senators overwhelmingly voted today remove a pilot project in their $20 billion state budget proposal that would have provided drug abusers with clean syringes so they are less likely to contract and spread the virus that causes AIDS.

Freshman Sen. Steve Goss, a Boone Democrat, ran the amendment that killed the project, which would have been tested in three counties. He said it was the wrong way to combat the disease, Dan Kane reports.

Several senators urged their colleagues not to support the amendment. State Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat who fought for its inclusion in the budget, said national studies have shown that it not only cuts the spread of the disease, it also helps addicts get off drugs.

"It gives you a chance to intervene in these peoples' lives and get them into treatment and get them off drugs," Nesbitt said.

The amendment passed by a 39-10 vote. The House earlier pulled the program from its budget.