Levine No Longer Setting Pace in Congressional Race

--Rep. Mel Levine may be a quick study when it comes to affairs of state, but he’s no longer the fastest man in the House. In the Capital Challenge 3-mile race, one of the top competitions for Washington notables outside the committee rooms, the Santa Monica Democrat lost his title of “Fastest Male Representative” to Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). Levine, last year’s top House finisher, was the only member of the California delegation to enter the competition, which featured 133 five-man teams headed by congressmen, senators, executive branch officials, federal judges and journalists. The overall winner was David White, an aide to Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, with a time of 14 minutes, 21 seconds. Levine trimmed 20 seconds off his previous winning time, finishing in 19 minutes and 5 seconds. Levine called his finish “reassuring,” noting that last year’s victory took him aback. “It’s the only race I’ve ever won,” he said. Levine, 45, said he usually runs 4 to 8 miles a day and takes longer runs on the weekends.

--In Greece, affairs of state have taken a back seat to affairs of the heart. Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, rushed to London in late August for heart surgery, was photographed holding hands with his girlfriend while strolling in a London hospital garden. A day after the picture was splashed across the front pages of Greek newspapers, the government announced that Papandreou, 69, will divorce his American wife of 37 years, Margaret, 65. The object of the prime minister’s affections is 34-year-old Dimitra Liani, an Olympic Airways stewardess. Divorce proceedings reportedly are already under way between Liani and her husband, Alexis Kapopoulos, a 43-year-old architect. Papandreou married the former Margaret Chant of Elmhurst, Ill., in 1951 when he was teaching economics at the University of Minnesota. A government spokesman did not say whether Papandreou plans to marry Liani.

--A cache of jewels discovered in the false bottoms of two filing cabinets in the Manhattan townhouse of the late artist Andy Warhol will be auctioned on Dec. 4, Sotheby’s said. The find, estimated at $1.2 million, included hundreds of diamonds, dozens of sapphires and a 300-carat emerald, the auction house said.