If Chicago politicians could be tagged with nicknames based on famous television commercials or celebrities, then 50th Ward Alderman Berny Stone would surely be the "Energizer Berny," who keeps going and going, and 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore, the scourge of foie gras, would surely be the "Mighty Joe Moore," who raises tons of money despite his posture as an anti-Daley, "progressive" independent.

In the April 17 runoff, the operative phrase in Stone's West Rogers Park 50th Ward is "people of color." In Moore's Rogers Park 49th Ward, the phrase is "color of money."

"There's many more Jews than Filipinos in my ward," said the 79-year-old Stone, who got 5,059 votes (48.3 percent of the total cast) on Feb. 27, missing an outright win by just 176 votes. He faces Naisy Dolar, a former liaison to the city's Asian community for the Commission on Human Relations. Dolar, a Filipino American, got 2,958 votes (28.3 percent). "I've got the people of color backing me," Stone said. "I've got the Assyrians, the Indians and the Pakistanis. The Asians are not uniting behind her. The Filipino vote is only about 6 percent. I will win with 58 percent."

Adds Stone: "She is playing the race card. She's trying to divide the ward along racial lines."

"People are dissatisfied," charged Don Gordon, who forced Moore into a runoff, getting 2,162 votes (29.2 percent of the total), to Moore's 3,657 (49.3 percent). Moore missed an outright win by just 50 votes. "Over 6,000 rental units have been converted to condominiums in the past 5 years," Gordon said. "The ward is changing, and Moore is in the pocket of the developers."

Adds Gordon: "Moore raised over $500,000, and half came from real estate interests. He's just another politician who is tainted by a 'pay to play' mentality."

Here's an analysis:

50th Ward (Howard to Peterson, between Kedzie and Ridge, with three precincts west to Ridgeway between Devon and Peterson): Stone was first elected in 1973, and he now ranks second in City Council seniority. With the defeat of Burt Natarus (42nd), there will be only two Jewish aldermen, Stone and Helen Shiller (46th). "(Dolar) claims we need diversity," Stone said. "But what about having a Jewish voice in city government? Isn't that diversity?"

There are 24,563 registered voters in the ward, and turnout on Feb. 27 was 10,469, or 43 percent. According to the alderman, about 30 percent (7,400) of the voters are Jewish. Stone's base is the Jewish vote, particularly in the five Winston Towers precincts along Kedzie near Lerner Park, where he got more than 80 percent of the vote, and the six precincts north of Touhy, near Rogers Park. Half the ward's residents, he admits, are immigrants and are "people of color," Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Thais, Indians, Pakistanis, Hispanics, Assyrians and Middle-East Muslims; they comprise about 40 percent of the vote. Non-Jewish whites are about 20 percent of the population.

Stone's core vote is near 5,000 and stable. He got 5,059 votes in February, 5,755 in 2003, 7,445 (unopposed) in 1999, 5,676 in 1995 and 8,654 in 1991, when he beat liberal Hank Rubin with 56 percent of the vote.

 "He is a bad alderman," Dolar said. "He is disrespectful of the community. The ward is being neglected."

Dolar blasts Stone for the "deterioration" of the ward's business districts, along Touhy, Western and Devon. "There are empty storefronts," she said. "We've had an empty theater for 10 years. There is no streetscaping on Devon. There are no infrastructure improvements." Dolar noted that the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group ranked the 50th Ward last in the city on upgrades over the past 12 years.

On crime, Dolar said that there is "a lack of safety" in the ward. "There is gang and drug activity in our parks," she said. "There is vandalism. Streets are not well lit. People are not comfortable going out at night." On schools, Dolar said, "Many residents pull their children out after the sixth grade. Schools are failing."

"He refused to debate me," Dolar added. "People notice."

"Everything she says is false," retorted Stone. 'We have a low crime rate, as low as Jefferson Park. This is not Englewood or Lawndale. We have high property values. Commercial property is selling for $1.4 million and up. We have the highest economic base in the city. We are a vibrant ward."

"Berny just didn't campaign hard enough," said one area state legislator. Even though Stone promises to serve his full 2007-11 term if re-elected and to run again in 2011, the perception in the ward is that he will resign at some point and prevail on Mayor Rich Daley to appoint Alana Stone, his daughter and aldermanic chief of staff, as his successor. Dolar is using that possibility to great effect. "Alana cannot win that seat," she said. "When Berny's gone, it will be wide open."

"I didn't campaign door to door," Stone admitted. "I had the unions spending money against me because I voted against the big-box ordinance. They sent 15 pieces into the ward." Stone also thinks that the Feb. 27 vote was miscounted. "I had 55 percent with 30 of 45 precincts counted, then I dropped," he said, implying that there was fraud elsewhere. "In the nursing homes, the Filipino employees were swaying votes" for Dolar, he charged.

My prediction: "She only got 28 percent," sneered Stone. "That's no mandate for change." Salman Aftab, a Muslim and a Devon Avenue businessman, who got 546 votes (5 percent of the total), has endorsed Stone. Some campaign staffers of Greg Brewer, who finished third with 1,906 votes (18 percent), have endorsed Dolar. To win, Dolar must get 90 percent of the Brewer/Aftab vote and attract at least 1,000 people who didn't vote. Stone must motivate his Jewish base vote and, in a turnout of 10,000, get about 500 of February's 5,410 anti-Stone voters.

Stone will win with 52 percent of the vote.

49th Ward (Lakefront to Ridge, west along Touhy to Western; Evanston boundary south to Pratt, east to Racine and south to Granville): Gordon, a retired banker who pledges not to "solicit or accept political donations" if elected, derides Moore as "supercilious, superficial and hypocritical." Gordon said that Moore "does not pay attention to ward issues," focusing on "irrelevant" issues such as foie gras, Iraq troop withdrawal, the big-box living wage and compensation for city whistle blowers who rat on corruption. He also notes that Moore's political base is barely above 3,500 votes and says that Moore won't win if the April turnout exceeds 7,000.

Voter registration in the ward is 22,435, among the lowest of the predominantly white wards in the city. Moore got 3,657 votes in February, fewer than his 3,693 in 2003 and down from 4,122 in 1999, 4,368 in 1995 and 5,842 in 1991. "Over 67 percent of the ward's voters didn't show up (on Feb. 27), and only 16 percent of the ward's total voters backed Moore," Gordon observed. "He's beatable." 

Until the early 1990s, more than 80 percent of the housing units in the ward were rental. Section 8 housing was widespread, and the ward's minority population was soaring. Crime was rife, especially in the "Juneway Jungle," the apartments just south of Evanston, where gang activity and drug dealing were rife.

But that has changed. According to Gordon, a study by the Lakeside Development Corporation indicated that more than 6,000 of those rental units have been converted to condominiums. Minority renters have been pushed out. Rentals are now down to less than 60 percent. About 10,000 people, mostly white, have moved into the ward in the past decade.

"We're at a crossroads," Gordon said. "We're squeezing out affordable housing. We need to keep a diversified community and a good mix."

Gordon said there is "great disappointment" among new residents. "They're dissatisfied with the quality of their condo construction. They're dissatisfied with the quality of their life in Rogers Park. They're dissatisfied with the level of their ward services." Those condominium owners, primarily singles and gays, are the key to the election -- if they vote.

According to Moore, his Zoning and Land Use Advisory Committee, composed of neighborhood groups, monitors all development. He claims credit for a new branch library and a new fire station in the ward, a $900,000 project to correct the curve at Devon and Sheridan, the new Gateway shopping center at Howard and Clark, and 57 new townhomes at Lakeview Pointe and 28 at Emerson Pointe.

Moore's financial disclosures indicate that he has raised $507,213 since Jan. 1, 2005, and had $256,734 on hand as of Jan. 1. "It's a juggernaut," Gordon said. "In the last 2 weeks of the campaign, he had a mailing every day. He sent out over 150,000 pieces." Added Gordon: "Moore helps the developers who contribute to him."

My prediction: The Daley forces are not aiding Gordon. In a turnout of less than 7,000, Moore will win with 53 percent of the vote.