When City Councillor Alice K. Wolf announced in April that she would not be running for re-election to the City Council next fall, Cambridge politicos started speculating on her plans.

The speculation only heated up when State Senator Michael J. Barrett '70 (D-Middlesex and Suffolk) announced a few days later that he would run for governor of the commonwealth, opening up a State Senate seat.

For now, Wolf has denied rumors that she has been offered a position with the National Organization for Women or with the Clinton administration and says she has no specific plans for the future other than continuing her work on the city council until her term expires.

Longtime observers of Cambridge politics, however, are not so easily convinced that Wolf has no immediate plans.

Former mayor Alfred E. Vellucci said that somebody has to replace Barrett on the senate. "Alice Wolf withdrew from the city council race. Maybe she is a candidate to the senate," he said at the time.

Saundra M. Graham, a former Cambridge city councillor and state representative, said that if Barrett ran for governor, Wolf would definitely run for the senate. "I can bet my life on it. The only thing that was stopping her from running was Michael," Graham said.

Former Mayor Barbara Ackermann says that although she does not know what Wolf will be doing, she would not be surprised by anything. "I can't imagine her twiddling her thumbs," Ackermann says.

Wolf, 59, has been involved with local politics for 20 years. She served on the Cambridge School Committee from 1973 to 1981. Although she lost her first bid for City Council in 1981, Wolf has served on the council since 1983 and as mayor during the 1990-91 term.

Her decision not to run for re-election will leave an open seat in the council election where incumbents usually have a large advantage.

She was by far the leading vote-getter in the 1991 council elections, and her departure leaves her many "number one" votes, important in Cambridge's system of proportional representation, up for grabs in the next election.

And while politicos are preoccupied with the way Wolf's absence from the council race will affect the election, many observers say Wolf will also be missed for her contributions to the city and its residents.