Click here to watch "Hands."

After the death of former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., over the weekend, his famous 1990 attack ad against former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt began to make a comeback in the world of viral video.

"Hands," also commonly known as the "white hands" ad, shows a white man crumpling a job rejection notice in frustration as an announcer intones, "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is."

"It dealt with people's worst fears," Gantt said years later. "We couldn't believe that someone in 1990 would run an ad like that." But the ad's creators have denied any racist intent. "The message in that spot's very clear," political consultant Alex Castellanos told PBS. "And that is nobody should get a job, or be denied a job because of the color of their skin. The vast majority of Americans believe that."

Racist or not, even Gantt acknowledged that "Hands" was, in its way, a work of "political genius." According to the Almanac of American Politics, Helms trailed in the polls for much of the campaign until, "armed with money raised by a nationwide direct mail campaign," he "seized the initiative in mid-October with three ads" -- "Hands" and two others that also referenced race -- and won in November with 53 percent of the vote.

Gantt lost to Helms again in 1996, but he has remained a major player in North Carolina politics; he popped up in a radio spot earlier this year endorsing gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue (D) -- in a campaign that, 18 years after "Hands," has also seen its share of racially charged ads.