Levine still running

An online rumor that Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, is dropping out of the Senate race and instead is looking at a run for City Council is absolutely not true, Levine said this morning. He is still enthusiastic about the race and expecting to win.

"Nope, I never said that to anybody. I'm not dropping out of the Senate race," he said in a telephone interview this morning.

"Things are looking good. I've got a lot of endorsements. Everything's great.
I'm excited about it."

The Mayor Sam blog printed rumors yesterday that Levine is considering dropping out of the June 2008 Democratic primary against former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley "due to low polling and fundraising numbers" and is instead looking at a run for Councilman Dennis Zine's 3rd district council seat.

According to the latest reports filed with the Secretary of State, Levine has about $160,000 cash on hand in his campaign account, and Pavley has about $508,000.

Levine's said he's gotten up to $200,000 since that report was filed, and is confident in reaching his goal of $1 million.