THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- Hamilton Jordan, a political strategist from south Georgia who helped propel Jimmy Carter to the White House and served as his chief of staff, died this evening after a long battle with cancer.

Mr. Jordan, 63, died at his home in Atlanta about 7:30 p.m., said Gerald Rafshoon, who was Carter's chief of communications.

"He was a great strategist. He just couldn't strategize his way out of this," Rafshoon said from his home in Washington.

Mr. Jordan's battle with cancer began 22 years ago, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, followed by bouts with melanoma and prostate cancer.

Rafshoon said a memorial service is planned Friday at The Carter Center in Atlanta and Carter will attend.

Carter said in a statement that he and his wife, Rosalynn, are deeply saddened. "Hamilton was my closest political adviser, a trusted confidant and my friend," said Carter. "His judgment, insight and wisdom were excelled only by his compassion and love of our country."

Mr. Jordan was born in Charlotte, N.C., in 1944 and raised in Albany, Ga. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a political science degree in 1967 and became a key adviser to Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign.

After Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jordan ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 1986. He lost to Wyche Fowler, who won the general election.

Jordan worked for H. Ross Perot's presidential bid in 1992.

Later he worked with Unity08, a political group founded by independent Angus King, the former governor of Maine, along with Rafshoon and Doug Bailey, a former staffer on President Ford's 1976 campaign.

In a recent public appearance, Jordan told the Atlanta Press Club that he was a fan of Barack Obama in his race for the Democratic nomination.