RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney and a delegation of U.S. senators joined hundreds of other mourners who paid their respects today at the funeral of former Sen. Jesse Helms, a five-term Republican who died on the Fourth of July.

Helms' family followed a steady line of mourners arriving for the afternoon service at the Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh, where Helms worshipped for decades and served as a deacon. Helms, 86, died after years of declining health.

"The vice president went just to pay his respects and spend some time with the family," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who took Helms' seat when he chose not to seek re-election in 2002, attended the service with her husband, former Republican presidential candidate Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware also were seated in the pews as the service began in the 800-seat sanctuary.

Cindy McCain, wife of presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain, also was on hand. Hundreds of others gathered to watch the funeral service remotely from a church gym.

Raleigh resident Wallace Holloway, 68, waited outside the church for about an hour before the doors were to open. He said Helms will be greatly missed, in part because he believed there's no longer anyone in Congress with his conviction.

"We need more men like Jesse Helms," Holloway said. "He's an icon - a Southern gentlemen. He'll be remembered for integrity and truth."

On Monday, hundreds attended a closed-casket visitation at the church. Attendance was steady during the day and picked up in the early evening when Helms' family greeted visitors at the front of the sanctuary.

The coffin of Helms, who served in the Senate from 1973 to 2003, was covered with a U.S. flag and flanked by two state Highway Patrol troopers. The front of the sanctuary was decorated with flowers sent by U.S. senators and a painting of Helms at work.

Helms won his first election in 1972 after a career in newspapers, radio and television commentaries and rose to become a powerful committee chairman.

He never lost a political race, but his margin of victory was never large, reflecting his image as a polarizing figure both at home and in Washington. In the Senate, he forced roll-call votes that required Democrats to take politically difficult votes on cultural issues, such as federal funding for art he deemed pornographic, school busing and flag-burning.

He also ran racially tinged campaigns in his last two runs for Senate, defeating former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, who is black, in 1990 and 1996.