The closest race is being fought in the quiet enclaves along Brattle Street. Two CCA-endorsed candidates--Mrs. Wheeler and School committeewoman Barbara Ackermann -- are vying for support. Mrs. Wheeler has been on the Council since 1957, but the Smith-educated Mrs. Ackermann appears to have a good chance of cutting into her past support.

Because of the CNCV registration drive, some 3000 additional voters will probably join the 30,000 who voted in 1965. Both Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Ackermann supported CNCV's drive to get their petition on the ballot, but Mrs. Ackermann has become more closely identified with the group. She may pick up a large amount of "number ones" from the new voters.

If Mrs. Ackermann replaces Mrs. Wheeler on the Council, it would probably be another point in favor of the anti-DeGuglielmo coalition. During her tenure on the school committee, Mrs. Ackermann's relations with the City Manager have been none too cordial; only two weeks ago, she accused him of delaying a community schools program.

Throughout her campaign, Mrs. Ackermann has called for the City Council to retrieve some of the decision-making power that has slipped into the Manager's hands. She has also supported a "more definite" method of selecting City Managers. She has said that the Council should talk to a prospective manager and determine whether his conception of the job agrees with their own.

Translated into pragmatic politics, this could well mean a vote against DeGuglielmo if a showdown occurs. During the past two years, the City Manager has clearly taken the leading role in the City. The majority on the Council has usually stood behind decisions with little dissent; only the minority four have seriously questioned him.

The other two members of the pro-DeGuglielmo coalition--Coates (a Negro) and Goldberg--finished seventh and eighth in the last election. Neither appears directly threatened this time, but one of them might be indirectly squeezed off the Council if Danehy garners a sizeable number of votes.

The interval between the elections and the seating of the new Council in January, 1968, will probably see much jockeying for position by the Crane and DeGuglielmo factions. (It was during this period, two years ago, that DeGuglielmo lined up the five votes which made him City Manager.)

If one or more members of the present majority are bumped from the Council, DeGuglielmo--veteran politician that he is--will probably attempt to set up another coalition to keep himself in office.

As its first order of business in January, the Council will elect a mayor; the City Manager might lend support to a prospective mayor in exchange for another vote. Beyond that, few venture to predict his moves. "No one knows what cards DeGug has up his sleeve," one observer of the Council commented recently.

Tomorrow's election may give the Council minority the chance they have been awaiting for nearly two years--to loosen the ground under the City Manager's feet. If they succeed, Cambridge may soon see a replay of the bitter days of January, 1966