Holtzman won't run for state attorney general

ALBANY - Former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman said Tuesday she would not seek the Democratic nomination for state attorney general, making Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice the only woman in a field of five candidates.

Holtzman, best known for serving on the House committee that voted to impeach President Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal, had flirted for months with running again for statewide office. In 1980, the Brooklynite ran for U.S. Senate, losing to Hempstead Town Supervisor Alfonse D''Amato, a Republican.

Holtzman said she was confident she would have won the Democratic primary for attorney general, citing a poll she commissioned showing she was the front-runner.

"However, in spite of the positive response and encouraging poll numbers, getting in at such a late stage in the process created insuperable obstacles to waging a winning campaign," she said.

Rice has been endorsed by another female contender, former federal prosecutor Denise O'Donnell of Buffalo.

Democrats are expected to nominate candidates for the primary on Wednesday at their convention in Rye Brook.