Cambridge City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio emerged yesterday as one of the two frontrunners in the race for the seat of State Rep. Charles F. Flaherty (D-Cambridge), who announced last week that he will not seek re-election in the fall.

Flaherty has already stepped down as house speaker after pleading guilty to a charge of income tax evasion and state ethics abuses.

Galluccio took a step toward the Democratic nomination yesterday when two other Independent candidates--School Committee member David P. Maher and former City Council candidate James J. McSweeney--announced at an 8 a.m. press conference that they were dropping from the race and endorsing Galluccio.

Galluccio, an Independent, will challenge former Mayor Alice K. Wolf, who is endorsed by the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), for the Democratic nomination for the 27th district. The district includes the neighborhoods of North and West Cambridge.

The 27th is a district where the Democratic primary is the de facto election; even David L.K. Trumbull, chair of Cambridge's Republican committee, called the 27th "probably the worst seat for a Republican in Cambridge."

McSweeney and Galluccio placed 10th and 12th, respectively, in the 1993 City Council election. When Councillor William H. Walsh resigned from the Council in 1994, Galluccio, not McSweeney, was given the empty seat because he received more of Walsh's transfer votes.

McSweeney sued the city and unsuccessfully challenged Galluccio in the 1995 council election. Even so, McSweeney said he was willing to let bygones be bygones and support his former opponent.

Asked if his endorsement of Galluccio meant that the two had buried the hatchet, he replied, "I don't think there ever was a hatchet."

Maher added that the short time to file--Flaherty announced he would not seek re-election only four weeks before the filing deadline--made it difficult for the candidates to coordinate before announcing their intention to run.

Since the three Independent candidates appealed to a similar constituency, they found they were overlapping each other's efforts.

"We were putting people in a difficult position when we asked them to take sides on this," Maher said.

Galluccio agreed.

"Everything we're talking about, in terms of improving the quality of life for people in this district, could not have occurred if we all ran," he said.

Even with the field narrowed to two hopefuls, the distinctions between the candidates may not be as easily drawn as in previous years, when rent control was the ultimate litmus test.

"Rent control was the catechism that defined the organized religion of Cambridge politics," said local political analyst Glenn S. Koocher '71.