Where's Zorro when you need him?

Like latter-day Spanish conquistadors, two white Chicago politicians, Aldermen Dick Mell (33rd) and Ed Burke (14th), have subjugated wide swaths of Hispanic-majority territory and dictate occupants of political office. The disgraced Hispanic Democratic Organization may be history, but slumbering Hispanic voters have shown little inclination to shuck the gringos' yoke.

However, inklings of rebellion have surfaced, with two "anti-gringo" candidates running in the 2010 Democratic primary.

In the past, Hispanics have been fractured and fractious. South Side Mexican Americans jockeyed with North Side Puerto Ricans for dominance. Central and South American Hispanics and Cubans sought influence. Conservatives, primarily Mexicans, battled liberals, primarily Puerto Ricans. And the HDO, Mayor Rich Daley's creation, provided the manpower to elect pro-Daley Hispanic stooges.

"It's a new era," said attorney Frank Avila, a Hispanic activist who contends that ethnic rivalry will be superseded by Hispanic outrage. "We want our share of the pie. We will stop fighting each other. 2010 will be the year of Hispanic independents and independence."

Here's a look at developing 2010 contests:

8th County Board District: Roberto Maldonado, the Democratic committeeman in the heavily Puerto Rican North Side 26th Ward, was first elected county commissioner in 1994. He was a loyal cog in the Daley/HDO machine. When Alderman Billy Ocasio (26th) took a state job, Maldonado exerted his clout to get Daley to choose him for alderman, which is deemed an upgrade. He expected that his protege, Xavier Nogueras, would get his county job.

But Mell, known derisively among Hispanics as "Old Gringo," had other ideas. Despite his embarrassment at being the facilitator of his son-in-law Rod Blagojevich's ascent to the Illinois governorship, the wily Mell is still in the game.

After Maldonado's appointment in July, the Democratic committeemen from the 26th, 31st, 33rd, 35th, 27th and 1st wards met to pick his successor. Maldonado thought he had sufficient weighted votes, plus the proxy from Secretary of State Jesse White, the 27th Ward committeeman, but Mell showed up with a new proxy from White, and his candidate, Ed Reyes, got the backing of committeemen Rey Colon (35th), Joe Berrios (31st), Manny Flores (1st). Can you smell a double cross?

Reyes won, and Maldonado was apoplectic, as well he should be. Mell tried to defeat Colon in 2003 and 2007 for alderman, sending hundreds of workers into his ward. Yet Colon sided with Mell against Maldonado. Can you smell sellout?

Maldonado is backing Nogueras in the Feb. 2 primary against Reyes, who has the support of Mell. Also running are Ariel Rosa and Omar Lopez.

My prediction: In the Hispanic community, Maldonado looks like a eunuch.  Reyes is the slight favorite. If Nogueras fails to defeat Reyes, expect "Old Gringo" to send his precinct workers into the 26th Ward to oust Maldonado in 2011.

Remember this: In 2006 Daley chose state Senator Miguel del Valle to replace convicted City Clerk Jim Laski. Del Valle's successor was Willie Delgado, a state representative. Luis Arroyo, a member of Mell's organization, took Delgado's job. In 2008 Mell ousted state Representative Rich Bradley and replaced him with his daughter, Deb Mell, and in 2010 another Mell toady, Mike Alvarez, was slated for Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioner.

To be accurate, "Old Gringo" should now be renamed "Old Gloton Gringo" - the hoggish foreigner.

Assessor: Instead of rejoicing at the prospect of Board of Review Commissioner Joe Berrios ascending to this powerful post, Hispanics are skeptical. Will he be just another Daley pawn? Seeking revenge, Maldonado has recruited former county judge Ray Figueroa, a onetime 31st Ward alderman, to run against Berrios. Berrios is the 31st Ward committeeman, as well as the county Democratic chairman. Figueroa, who was elected alderman in 1987 as a Harold Washington supporter, was never Berrios' ally. He served one term as alderman, and he was elected a judge in 1994, retiring in 2006.

Berrios has $2,607,680 in his campaign accounts. Maldonado has $76,937.

The outlook: Outgoing incumbent Jim Houlihan was a useful cog in the "Daley Machine," but Berrios, if elected, will be the primary cog in the pay-to-play "Berrios Machine." He will raise millions of dollars from those who benefit from the assessor's value reductions, and he will be well positioned to run for mayor in 2011 or 2015 or, at the very least, dictate the Hispanic candidate in a Daley-free election.

Also running are former alderman and Board of Review commissioner Bob Shaw, who is black, and real estate developer Gene Staples, who is white. Andrea Raila, an anti-tax activist associated with Governor Pat Quinn, apparently has withdrawn. Black voters comprise roughly one-third of the Cook County Democratic primary vote.

Berrios will run as an insider, lavishing millions of dollars on ads in the Hispanic media and paid precinct workers and relying on white committeemen to deliver votes. Shaw should get the bulk of the black vote, but Figueroa will have appeal as both a "reformer" and a Washington alderman. The newspapers will endorse Figueroa, and he will get a big chunk of the white liberal Lakefront and suburban vote.

My prediction: Against a single foe, Berrios would be in jeopardy, but Shaw and Figueroa will split the black and independent vote and Berrios will win.

23rd Illinois House District (Southwest Side, centered on Interstate 55 and Harlem Avenue): Democrat Dan Burke has been a state representative since 1991 and a cipher for the Democratic majority, compiling an utterly undistinguished record. While the area has turned Hispanic -- 66.4 percent in the 2000 census, and probably 80 percent-plus in 2009 -- Burke's DNA makes him impervious and unbeatable.

Burke's brother is Alderman Ed Burke (14th), whose $4.3 million campaign fund ensures that nobody credible runs for any Burke-held job. Burke's 14th Ward is more than 80 percent Hispanic, but Burke got 90 percent of the vote in 2007, and he was unopposed in 2003. First appointed in 1968, Ed Burke was elected in 1969 and has been reelected 10 times. At age 66, Burke is the City Council's dean and the Finance Committee chairman.

Burke doesn't beat opposition. He just buys them off.

Rudy Lozano Jr.'s father was a union organizer, a political activist and a Washington supporter, and he lost a 22nd Ward aldermanic race in 1983; he was murdered shortly thereafter. Lozano is challenging Dan Burke, who has had no opposition in the past nine primaries.

As expected, the "Burke Machine" filed two Hispanic shill candidates, Rene Diaz and Martin Meza-Zavalda. They will divert votes from Lozano.

But, according to insiders, Lozano, age 33, has a two-year game plan. If he doesn't beat Dan Burke in 2010, he'll continue his quest and attempt to oust Alderman Ricardo Munoz (22nd) in 2011. The Lozano name is revered among Hispanics.

The turnout in the 23rd District, which includes parts of the 14th, 13th, 18th, 15th and 23rd wards and Stickney, was 8,968 in the 2008 primary and 7,640 in 2006. It will be around 8,000 in 2010.

 Lozano is running an "anti-gringo" campaign, and making the Burke boys the focus. My prediction: Lozano will crest 40 percent, and by 2015 the 14th Ward will have a Hispanic alderman and the Burkes will be history.

7th County Board District (Southwest Side, Cicero): Incumbent Joseph Mario Moreno exhibited monumentally poor judgment in supporting Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's sales tax hike, and he then voted both for and against an override of Stroger's veto. That's no profile in courage.

Former state senator Jesus Garcia, the 22nd Ward alderman in the 1980s (winning the next election after Lozano's death), is opposing Moreno. Garcia is a flaming pro-tax liberal, and he was a Washington supporter.

But voters' disgust with Moreno is palpable. My prediction: Moreno is toast. Garcia will win with 60 percent of the vote.

12th County Board District (Ravenswood, Lakeview, Wicker Park): It takes an enormous amount of incompetence to blow a Chicago aldermanic seat, but Ted Matlak did so in 2007, losing in the 32nd Ward to Scott Waguespak by 122 votes. Now he's masochistically running against state Representative John Fritchey (D-11) for Forrest Claypool's county board seat.

Watch the 11th House District. Fritchey's predecessor was Rod Blagojevich, and Fritchey won the seat in 1996 as part of Mell's deal-making to get Blagojevich into Congress. Lisa Madigan ousted longtime political hack Bruce Farley from his state Senate seat in 1998. Now Farley's son, Dan, is running for the House, and he is opposed by Ann Williams, a lobbyist and a former state's attorney staffer for Madigan.

Alderman Gene Schulter (47th) won't exert himself or his organization for Fritchey unless he endorses Farley, and backing Farley would infuriate many liberals in the 32nd Ward and Wicker Park, where Williams is popular. Whatever his decision, Fritchey will hand a sizable number of votes to Matlak. My prediction: Slight edge to Farley and Fritchey.