Kathleen Rice could announce AG candidacy Sunday

Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who for months has been acting like a candidate for state attorney general, will make it official Sunday when she e-mails her supporters a videotaped announcement, a source close to her campaign said Saturday.

Rice, 45, of Garden City, will speak straight to the camera in the video, announcing her candidacy, describing her background and credentials, and outlining her goals for the attorney general's office, the source said. Those goals include local public safety issues, enforcing rules on Wall Street and reforming Albany, the source said.

The video will be e-mailed to supporters in the afternoon and will be posted simultaneously on Rice's relaunched website, kathleenrice.com, the source said.

Rice, a Democrat, previously had said that she would announce her candidacy only after sitting Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo makes the long-anticipated announcement that he is a candidate for governor.

But the source close to the campaign said Saturday that time is getting short, and Rice must make an official announcement before the state Democratic Convention, which is planned for May 25-27.

Rice and other candidates must garner 25 percent of convention votes to automatically be placed on the primary ballot. Otherwise, they can get on the ballot only by gathering enough voter signatures on petitions.

To help raise support among committee members and the public, Rice plans to announce a series of endorsements in the coming weeks, the source said. "That process needs to begin in the run-up to the convention," the source said.

Rice's announcement follows her respectable showing in a straw poll at the Democratic Rural Conference meeting in Niagara Falls. Rice finished second to former state insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo. Also in the running are former federal prosecutor Sean Coffey, who grew up in Hempstead Village, Assemb. Richard Brodsky of Westchester County and State Sen. Eric Schneiderman of Manhattan.

At the last filing deadline in mid-January, Rice was far ahead of the pack in fundraising, records show, with about $2.4 million in her coffers. At the time, no other candidate topped $2 million.