Earlier this month, observers said they expected the Alliance to benefit from a desire to cut taxes and last November's abolition of rent control.

Alliance members think they now have a chance at claiming some of the monolithic support from the city's 15,000 tenants who live in rent-controlled apartments that CCA candidates had secured before.

"Rent control is gone, and people want fiscal accountability," said Linda B. Levine, co-chair of the Small Property Owners Association.

But neighborhood pundits said the CCA has stepped up its pressure on progressive voters, and the race has tightened considerably.

"My feeling is that in the last week, the CCA and Reeves have picked up support and winds are changing," said John R. Clifford, an advisor to Reeves.

Although rent control was the divisive issue drawing voters to the polls since 1970, its abolition by statewide referendum last November means that citizens must now focus on other issues.

The immediate selection of a new police commissioner, a superintendent of schools in 1997, affordable housing and economic development are all issues with which the new council will have to deal.

Low Turnout Expected

Artis B. Spears, chair of the Cambridge Election Commission, said this veritable feast of important issues has not energized the city's 40,100 registered voters. Spears predicts a voter turnout of approximately 40 percent.

"Broader issues aren't as heart rendering as rent control," said Walsh. "I see a turnout of about 19,000. Conservatives were the first choice of 55 percent of voters in 1993 but were at a disadvantage because CCA-endorsed candidates received a huge number of transfer votes."

But times have changed.

Some observers say the recent loss of registered voters resulted from the displacement of tenants in formerly rent-controlled buildings, while others contend the decline reflects an apathy among city residents.

"Tenants have been forced out of the city...The CCA base is disappearing," said Joanne A. Preston, chair of the Agassiz Tenants Union.

Some see a conservative ideology running through the city, evidenced by the emergence of the Christian Coalition, candidates' willing to advocate large spending cuts and the recent adoption of a residency requirement for city employees--a bill ardently opposed by the CCA.

But Clifford said new tenants are largely progressive and will not vote for candidates bent on reversing policies which have established the city's reputation as a haven for liberals: "The People's Republic of Cambridge."