CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : STATE SENATE : Veteran Legislators Dills, 84, and Greene, 76, Face an Age-Old Election Issue

With all the anxiety about anti-incumbency fever sweeping entrenched legislators out of office Tuesday, two of California’s oldest and longest-serving state senators are counting on catchy advertising slogans to turn their longevity in office to advantage.

Democratic Sens. Ralph C. Dills of El Segundo and Leroy F. Greene of Sacramento are in heavily contested races. Besides their own careers, riding on the outcome could be the continued leadership of new Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer of Hayward, who is fighting to maintain Democratic control of the upper house.

Twenty-one of the Senate’s 40 seats are up for grabs Tuesday. Democrats now hold 22, Republicans 15 and independents two. There is one vacancy.

To help hang on to his lead, Lockyer is betting on Dills, 84, a former professional musician who last spring won a hard-fought primary. In a district that stretches from Venice to Long Beach, Dills put up billboards showing him blowing his trademark saxophone and emblazoned with the slogan, “Too Old to Quit.”

Now, in a TV spot featuring sepia-toned still photos and ragtime-style music, Dills, first elected to the Assembly in 1938, tells voters in his folksy drawl, “Yes, I’m older than these old pictures, but it’s today’s police officers that support me,” and he adds that firefighters support him for “making their jobs safer today,” not for past favors.

Dills, who in the primary was targeted for defeat by the League of Conservation Voters, says in the spot being aired on cable TV that he views the environment from a different vantage point.

“Like a lot of Californians my age,” he chuckles, “I took it for granted, but you’re never too old to learn.”

Taking a similar tack, 76-year-old Greene, first elected to the Assembly in 1962, is employing billboards with an owl perched on a tree limb and describing himself as “a tough old bird” who does not march in lock-step with any special interest. Greene even has a TV spot designed to show his vigor as he quickly dashes off his accomplishments.

Both reelection drives are overseen by veteran Sacramento-based consultant Richie Ross. Ross said he needed to take the initiative to spell out the definition of old, rather than allow the Republican challengers to tag his candidates as too old to continue in office. For Dills, Ross said, old “meant cool,” and in Greene’s case, “we made him crotchety.”

“I think they had no choice but to lead with the age issue” to defuse it as a potential liability with voters, said Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Leonard. “You can’t have a photo of them (Dills and Greene) without running across the age issue.”

Still, Leonard maintained that both longtime lawmakers are vulnerable, especially in a year when the Los Angeles Times Poll indicated that voters give a slight edge to Republicans as the party that can best handle government.

Dills’ reelection fray is a classic battle between a veteran lawmaker and a newcomer, attorney David Barrett Cohen, who has never held political office. As of late October, Dills reported raising $668,000, while Cohen has received contributions of only $97,000. This discrepancy prompted Leonard to suggest that Cohen “probably has done more with less than any of our candidates. He’s made a credible campaign on a shoestring.”

Cohen, 34, has lambasted Dills on his special-interest contributions and long tenure. In one mailer, he played off Dills’ primary campaign slogan. Holding a saxophone, Cohen says in the piece, “Time to Change the Tune.”

Greene is facing Republican Dave Cox, a Sacramento County supervisor and businessman, who is mounting an aggressive challenge in an area that was once a Democratic stronghold but is increasingly tilting toward the GOP.

In TV ads and brochures featuring a dog lying on its back, Greene accuses Cox of voting for projects sought by campaign contributors. “Throw Dave a bone. He rolls over,” the ads blare.

Hitting Greene on his longevity, Cox asks, “What can Leroy Greene accomplish in the next four years that he hasn’t in the last 32 years?”

Times staff writer Ted Johnson in Torrance contributed to this story.