Political aftershocks continue in numerous Chicago wards, where in the recent election eight aldermen lost, five being Democratic ward committeemen.

When a politician who is both an alderman and a committeeman loses his City Council seat, he almost invariably loses his party post in the next election. Going into this election, 30 of the 50 aldermen were Democratic committeemen. Expect some new aldermen to run for committeeman.

Changes are afoot in other wards as well, where aging or fading aldermen, expecting tough challenges in 2011, face 2008 contests for committeeman. Some inept or complacent committeemen are in danger.

The Shakman Decree, which banned city hiring based on political connections, coupled with the Hired Truck Program scandal, mean that committeemen can't get jobs for worthy precinct workers. However, under the Daley Administration, jobs went to groups such as the Hispanic Democratic Organization, not to committeemen.

But the post is important. To an alderman, it's a means to consolidate power and eliminate opposition. To a challenger, it's a means to build a base to run for alderman. Here's a look at 2008 contests:

41st Ward (Norwood Park, Edison Park, Oriole Park, Edgebrook): The debate here rages between those who contend that it is either Chicago's most Republican ward because it has the worst Democratic organization or the least Democratic ward because it has the best Republican organization.

Alderman Brian Doherty is the City Council's only Republican, and his ally, state Representative Mike McAuliffe, is the ward Republican committeeman and the sole Chicago Republican in the Illinois House. In the 2006 contest for Cook County Board president, Republican Tony Peraica beat Democrat Todd Stroger by 9,739 votes in the ward, with 74.9 percent of the vote. Against very liberal or black Democrats, Republicans win the ward.

However, George Bush lost the ward 12,951-11,292 in 2000 and by 14,625-13,017 in 2004, while Rod Blagojevich won the ward by 370 votes in 2006, after having lost it by 629 votes in 2002.

In any election, the Doherty-McAuliffe organization can put 60 workers on the street. In contrast, former state representative Ralph Capparelli, the ward's Democratic committeeman, can barely muster 10 workers. After he lost to McAuliffe in 2004, Capparelli had more than $700,000 in his legislative campaign account. He paid himself $418,582 in June of 2006, which is legal under state law, and transferred $39,000 to Friends of Capparelli, which he uses for meals, cell phones and personal expenses. He spent none of that money to beat Doherty, and the 41st Ward Democrats have only $5,093 on hand.

According to insiders, Capparelli, age 82, will step down as committeeman in 2008, and his successor will be Tom Jaconetty, a longtime attorney with the Cook County Board of Review. But unless a Democrat is the alderman, the 41st Ward will remain a Democratic wasteland.

50th Ward (West Rogers Park): Alderman Berny Stone barely won in the April runoff election, topping Naisy Dolar by 661 votes and getting 52.9 percent of the vote. The ward's Democratic committeeman since 1998, Stone will be 83 years old in 2011, and it is doubtful he will run again. Younger members of the ward Democratic organization are urging him to step aside for state Senator Ira Silverstein.

Stone wants his daughter, Ilana Stone, to be his successor, and he won't give up the party post. But Jewish voters are a dwindling force in the ward, and they will be a voting minority by 2011. Expect the political organization of U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, who endorsed Dolar, to field a foe against Stone in 2008. If the liberals get themselves energized, perhaps with Barack Obama's campaign, and turnout is high, Stone could lose.

2nd Ward (Dearborn Park, North Bronzeville, Taylor Street, South Lawndale): It's said that the enemies of one's enemy are one's friends. Not for U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, the ward's Democratic committeeman: His enemies are multiplying like rabbits, he has no friends, and his political instincts are rapidly withering.

Rush was an alderman from 1983 to 1992, and he has been the ward's committeeman since 1984 and a congressman since 1992. He anointed his aide, Madeline Haithcock, as his aldermanic successor, and then got into a feud. He ran his sister against Haithcock in 1995 and 1999, but in 2007 he endorsed Haithcock while she was politically self-destructing. That's sort of like allying oneself with Saddam Hussein as U.S. troops mass at Iraq's border.

The ward has a growing white population, and Haithcock's service operation was inept. In a six-candidate field, with four black candidates and two white candidates, Haithcock got just 20 percent of the vote, while Bob Fioretti, a white lawyer, got 28 percent. Fioretti creamed Haithcock with 66.1 percent of the vote in the April 17 runoff.

Two words describe Rush: Dumb and helpless. Fioretti will beat him for committeeman in 2008, since Rush and 2007 mayoral loser Bill "Dock" Walls will split the black vote, and Rush will have a tough opponent, probably state Senator Kwame Raoul, in the 1st District Democratic primary.

3rd Ward (South Side: Bronzeville): Dorothy Tillman has been an alderman since 1983 and the ward's committeeman since 1984. She lost in April, and she will lose again in 2008.

Despite support from the mayor, Tillman was defeated by union-backed Pat Dowell by 4,513-3,847 in the runoff, getting 46.1 percent of the vote. On Feb. 27 Tillman led Dowell 3,383-3,020, with 1,511 votes going to three other candidates. In a higher April turnout, Dowell got nearly all the anti-Tillman votes, and Daley's efforts raised the Tillman vote by just 464. Dowell will win the committeeman's post in 2008.

7th Ward (South Chicago): Bill Beavers, who has been a committeeman since 1984, was an alderman from 1983 to 2006. When he resigned to become a county commissioner, Daley appointed his daughter, Darcel, as alderman. But she lost big to Sandi Jackson, the wife of U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., by a margin of 6,462-3,703. Expect Beavers to lose for committeeman in 2008 and for commissioner in 2010.

49th Ward (Rogers Park): These words describe David Fagus: Irrelevant, obscure and politically impotent. As the ward's Democratic committeeman, he can take about 1 percent of the credit for re-electing Alderman Joe Moore.

In the highly transient ward, Moore, who has been an alderman since 1991, won in April by just 247 votes, with 50.9 percent of the vote against Don Gordon. Moore had 3,657 votes in the municipal election and 3,862 votes in the runoff. In 2004 Fagus, a Moore protege, was elected committeeman with 3,679 votes, to 1,714 for Mike Harrington, Gordon's 2007 campaign manager.

Harrington will run again in 2008, with the backing of Gordon's organization. If he wins, it will be another indication of Moore's weakness.

According to ward sources, Moore may retire in 2011 and back community activist Katy Hogan, 2007 loser Jim Ginderske (who got 13 percent of the vote), or Fagus, if he's still the committeeman, for his post.

46th Ward (Uptown): Alderman Helen Shiller eschews party involvement, but Democratic Committeeman Tom Sharpe backs her. Shiller was re-elected in February by 5,834-5,133, with 53.1 percent of the vote. Her opponent was Jim Cappleman, a social worker and the consensus choice of the anti-Shiller forces.

Politics in the ward is economic, not partisan. It's "haves" versus "have nots" -- property owners versus renters, half-way housers and the homeless. Shiller's base is withering, and the number of "haves" in the ward is growing. She likely will lose in 2011. Cappleman and his allies have no interest in Sharpe's job. He will win again, by default.

32nd Ward (Wicker Park, Bucktown, North Lakeview, Ukrainian Village): It ain't over until it's over, but here, where Alderman Ted Matlak lost by 122 votes, it's over. The Rostenkowski dynasty, dominant since 1936, is no more. Terry Gabinski, a Dan Rostenkowski protege who was the ward's alderman from 1969 to 1999 and who has been a committeeman since 1988, will be gone in 2008.

Matlak, who has been an alderman since 1999, was Gabinski's protege, and both labored mightily to facilitate the ward's redevelopment, with $1 million homes, $500,000 townhomes and $250,000 condos replacing dinky bungalows. They got contributions from developers, but not votes from the new buyers.

In the April runoff, Gabinski, with few captains left, exerted a Herculean effort, bringing in workers from all over the city. Scott Waguespack ran as a reformer, made the buffoonish Matlak the issue, and spent less than $100,000 (compared to Matlak's $700,000). In a huge upset, he won with 50.7 percent of the vote.

Gabinski is now the target of state Representative John Fritchey, an ambitious, liberal legislator who wants to run for state attorney general in 2010 or for mayor in the future. Fritchey needs a city political base, and he is a good fit for the upscale 32nd Ward. Expect Gabinski to retire and Fritchey to win.

42nd Ward (Gold Coast, North Loop): What can you say about ubiquitous 36-year Alderman Burt Natarus? How about: Bye-bye?

Natarus spent nearly $1 million but lost to Brendan Reilly by 6,802-5,721, getting 45.7 percent of the vote. In 2004 Natarus, who succeeded George Dunne as the ward's committeeman, won 4,692-3,525, with 57.1 percent of the vote, against a former judge. Reilly, a future mayoral contender, will run for committeeman in 2008. Natarus, out of office, will lack fund-raising capability. Reilly will beat him.

43rd Ward (Lincoln Park): This is Alderman Vi Daley's last term. She got 53.3 percent of the vote in the runoff. Round one of the 2011 election is 2008. Daley's ally, Democratic Committeeman Peg Roth, will face opposition from forces allied with former alderman Marty Oberman and 2007 loser Michele Smith.