With an eye on next fall's city council race, current councillors and possible contenders have quietly begun preparing for the elections.

"It's complicated, it's difficult, it takes time away from public service, but it's always interesting," said Mayor Francis H. Duehay `55.

All nine seats are up for election this year, and every council member has indicated that he or she will run again.

Though candidates are not official until they file nomination papers in June and July--the papers are due July 31--some people are not waiting that long to enter the election fray.

"Already the speculation is rampant about who's running, who's vulnerable, and what new slates or other political affiliations might emerge," said local politico Robert Winters in his city council newsletter, The Cambridge Civic Journal.

At this point, every current council has an active election committee registered with the city's election commission, according to Joseph H. Kaplan, assistant director of the commission.

And at least two unsuccessful candidates from years past, Winters and James J. McSweeney, have already established active election committees, too, Kaplan said.

One seat that may be particularly vulnerable is that of councillor Henrietta E. Davis.

Davis won the final spot in the 1997 election with just 918 votes--nearly 450 votes less than the eighth-place finisher, Kenneth E. Reeves '72.

Incumbents usually start to organize their campaign in the winter. Though some take out their campaign organization papers in the winter, no one has done that so far, according to Executive Director of the Election Commission Teresa S. Neighbor.

The politicking will likely last beyond the November vote, as the councillors start to jockey for the position of mayor.

The council elects a mayor at its first meeting in January.

Duehay said he will look to keep his current position as mayor, but he will likely be challenged by Triantafillou, who unsuccessfully sought the position last fall.