Observers said that Wolf's extraordinarily highvote total made her an early favorite to beelected the city's second woman mayor, should theCCA win a majority.

When asked how he thought he would work withthe CCA, Toomey said that he did not forsee anymajor conflicts.

"I don't see any problems," Toomey said.

But Walsh cautioned that until the week-longtransfer process is complete, it is a mistake todeclare any side the victor.

He added that he is undaunted by the prospectof a CCA or a protenant majority.

"There's no question that there's more tenantsout there than there are homeowners, but thatdoesn't change my position," Walsh said.

"It'll be a long two years," said Russell.

And even candidates who appeared certain tolose were philosophical about the electoralprocess.

"We're ahead of where we projected we'd be,"said Independent candidate Alan D. Bell, running adistant 12th with 814 votes. "I think it's arespectable showing."

City Council Vote (Preliminary Count)

Candidate  #1 VotesAlice K. Wolf  3548Walter J. Sullivan  2553Francis H. Duehay '55  2480William H. Walsh  1960Edward N. Cyr  1946Kenneth E. Reeves '72  1703Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.  1694Sheila T. Russell  1609Jonathan S. Myers  1471Alfred W. LaRosa  1468Thomas W. Danehy  1412Alan D. Bell  814John T. St. George '70  708Esther M. Hanig  665Rena H. Leib  657Renae D. Scott  622E. Denise Simmons  533David J. Sullivan  185John W. Downing '54  178Paul J. Johnson, Jr.  148Kenneth D. May  115Regina Jones  107Robert Heroux  105James M. Greene  84Peter Sheinfeld  71William C. Jones  33Vivian Kurkjian  23William P. Vienneau  14

These results are unofficial. Candidates areelected to the nine-member council once they reachthe quota, which election officials estimated at2698 votes. In Cambridge's complicated system ofproportional representation, votes are transferredto lower-choice candidates after the first choicesmeet the quota or are dropped from the count forhaving gotten the fewest votes.