Dills and his challengers get ready to face the music in June.

DILLS’ DEBUT: Decked in white slacks, a sport coat and bow tie, State Sen. Ralph Dills (D-Gardena) plays a saxophone in a billboard photo.

The slogan: “Too Old to Quit.”

This is the 84-year-old lawmaker’s opening salvo in his June 7 primary campaign, which could be the toughest race in a political career that dates to the 1930s. Two of his opponents, Torrance Councilman George Nakano and Venice attorney Mike Sidley, say that he has been in Sacramento so long that he has lost touch with voters.

“Instead of ducking the issue, we made it a positive,” said Tim Mock, Dills’ campaign manager and coordinator. “We’ve had a very good response.”

The same ad is featured in campaign mailers, which outlines Dills’ record and features quotes like: “I’ve played sax a lot longer than Bill Clinton’s been alive.”

The ad “Is an opening line, a ‘Hi, how are you?’ ” said Richard Ross, his campaign consultant. “People smile. That’s all it’s intended to do.”

Many voters may find him a new candidate. Because of redistricting, his Gardena-area 30th District was carved up, forcing him to run in the newly formed 28th District, which includes the beach cities, Torrance, Carson, Compton and Wilmington.

The ad “is a preemptive strike,” said Rick Rosenthal, Sidley’s campaign manager. “But I’m really wondering if he plays better or worse than Bill Clinton.”

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INCUMBENT ADVANTAGE: When voters ousted incumbents in elections in Manhattan Beach and El Segundo earlier this month, some of Dills’ opponents took it as a signal of things to come.

Namely, that voters are willing to oust Dills in the state primary, said Nakano campaign manager Debbie Cox.

In early March, the Nakano campaign conducted a poll that showed Dills leading Nakano by five percentage points, 13% to 8%. And the majority of the 400 voters surveyed said they were either undecided or had never heard of either candidate.

Dills’ campaign, however, said the survey proves only that they have to establish name recognition in the district.

Nakano “spent a lot of money to find out something we already know,” Mock said. “Nobody knows Dills or Nakano in that area.”

And what about Sidley? He is a member of the Los Angeles County Environmental Crimes Sentencing Task Force, but largely unknown in South Bay political circles. The Nakano campaign doubts he will be a serious challenge. Sidley’s campaign puts everyone on equal ground. “It’s a three-person race,” Rosenthal said.

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SUPERMARKET KICKOFF: State Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Torrance) launched her reelection bid last week amid the sound of shopping carts.

Standing at a podium in the parking lot of Smith’s supermarket in Redondo Beach, she outlined her agenda on campaign finance reform, crime, education and defense conversion.

Bowen had a reason for holding the event in the lot: She helped Smith’s secure permits so it could build on the site, which formerly was an aircraft parts manufacturing plant. “This is a great example of the good that has been done for the business community,” she said.