This week the usual "Analysis and Opinion" is on spring break, pondering and analyzing the fate of the universe. Instead, here's "Gossip and Speculation," a column exploring the vapidities and insipidities of local politicians.

Just kidding. Some political situations are grossly entertaining some of the time, most are grossly boring most of the time, and there are those which occasionally deserve gossip and speculation. Back to the norm next week.

36th Ward (Galewood, Montclare, Cumberland Corridor): First-term Alderman Nick Sposato confronts two difficult obstacles, one personal and the other political. First, he has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a non-life threatening disease which curtails ambulation, has no cure, and manifests itself over years. "It hasn't affected me yet," Sposato said. "It's in the early stage."

Ann Romney, the wife of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has the disease, and she is not impeded as she nears age 60. Sposato is age 53. Obviously, if the disease progresses and precludes door-to-door campaigning, it will have an impact on his re-election.

The second obstacle is equally serious: Sposato was one of only three Chicago aldermen -- the others being Bob Fioretti and Toni Foulkes -- to have their ward totally cannibalized in the recent City Council-approved ward remap. Sposato will continue to serve his existing ward through the end of his term in of April of 2015, but he will have to run for re-election, most likely against fellow Alderman Tim Cullerton (38th), in a newly configured ward where he is unknown to half or more of the voters.

Sposato defeated appointed alderman John Rice in the April 2011 runoff 5,651-4,423, getting 56.1 percent of the vote. The current 36th Ward contains 51 precincts, and it was hacked into three pieces: 26 precincts, including the Cumberland Avenue Corridor and most of Galewood, were appended onto the new 38th Ward, where Cullerton is the incumbent; 13 precincts, from the south end of the ward, which stretches to North Avenue, between Harlem Avenue and Narragansett Avenue, were attached to the black-majority 29th Ward, where Deborah Graham is the incumbent; and 12 precincts from the east end of the ward, east of Harlem between Roscoe Street and Belden Avenue, including Sposato's home precinct, were put into the new Hispanic-majority 36th Ward, which extends far to the east, into Puerto Rican areas where Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios is the political boss.

"I will run for re-election," Sposato promised. "The people should pick their alderman, not the political bosses." My early prediction: Sposato will take on Cullerton in a new 38th Ward in which half of the precincts come from the old 36th Ward.

Under Chicago law, a candidate for alderman must be a ward resident for one year prior to the commencement of the nominating petition circulation period, which would be August of 2014, which means that Sposato will have to move, likely to the Cumberland-Lawrence area.

Although he was disrespected by City Council elders, Sposato, a city firefighter on leave, is enormously popular in his ward, and he viewed as a "regular guy." He won 41 of the ward's 55 precincts against Rice, and in the 26 precincts now in the 38th Ward, he beat Rice by 2,742-2,195 (with 55.5 percent of the vote), which bodes well for 2015. In the election for 36th Ward Democratic committeeman, Sposato thrashed Larry Andolino, who was backed by the remnants of the old Bill Banks/Jim DeLeo machine, by 4,432-1,788 (with 71.3 percent of the vote); he won 49 of the ward's 51 precincts. In the precincts now in the 38th Ward, Sposato crushed Andolino by 2,181-761, getting 74.1 percent of the vote.

Cullerton lost half of his ward's current 53 precincts in the remap: the Hispanic areas south of Addison Street and Old Irving Park. Cullerton must now build an organization from scratch in the 36th Ward addition, and he cannot expect any aid from Banks' old captains. Cullerton beat Tom Caravette in the 2011 runoff in the current 38th Ward by 4,761-3,119 (with 60.4 percent of the vote), and his sister Patti Jo Cullerton beat Caravette by 2,319-1,518 (with 60.5 percent) in the 2012 committeeman race.

 "He's running because of his ancestors," one source close to Sposato joked of Cullerton, noting that a Cullerton has occupied the 38th Ward aldermanic seat since 1931 and that a Cullerton was first elected to the council in 1871. "They're calling to him. He was retired. He's got his city pension. He just doesn't want to be the Last 'Cullerton.'"

The outlook: It's all about solidity. Is Sposato's base more solid than Cullerton's? Edge to Sposato.

19th Illinois House District (parts of the 45th, 41st, 38th and 36th wards and eight precincts in Norridge): Incumbent Democrat Joe Lyons retired. Descriptive adjectives are multitudinous when characterizing Rob Martwick's underwhelming victory in the March Democratic primary over Sandra Stoppa, when he got 57.8 percent of the vote. How about uninspiring? Desultory? Martwick raised $206,895 and won the four Chicago wards by 4,326-3,281 and his Norridge base by 484-231. Overall, Martwick triumphed by 4,810-3,512 against Stoppa, who raised a measly $18,396. A juggernaut has not been born.

But, as Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over till it's over." Martwick, of Norridge, the son of clout-heavy Norwood Park Township Democratic Committeeman Robert Martwick and a partner in his father's law firm, which specializes in property tax reduction, is an unabashed liberal who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and increased taxes.

"He won't run," Martwick predicted of Harwood Heights Trustee Mike Gadzinski, who the Republicans allegedly are recruiting to run against him. Since no Republican filed, the party has until June 4 to choose a nominee. Gadzinski is the Norwood Park Township Republican committeeman, an aide to Republican Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak, and a staunch ally of Harwood Heights Mayor Arlene Jezierny, a Republican whom the Martwick machine is targeting for extinction in 2013. Trustee Jimmy Magoulias, who was elected in 2009 on the ticket with Jezierny, who defeated Martwick machine-backed Democratic incumbent Peggy Fuller, has flipped. Opportunism flourishes in Harwood Heights.

 Magoulias is running as the Martwick machine candidate against Jezierny for mayor in 2013, and he is vocally opposed to the Mariano's Fresh Mart project. The village spent $4 million to buy property on Lawrence Avenue just west of Harlem, intending to lease it to Mariano's - an unpopular idea -- but now the developer has decided to buy it for $3.8 million, spend $20 million on improvements, and get a 50 percent sales tax reduction. "There's no bond, no loan, no risk, and we're going to get about $300,000 a year in tax revenue," boasted Jezierny.

Needless to say, Magoulias' nascent anti-Mariano's crusade has fizzled. Harwood Height's six trustees, who were 5-1 pro-Jezierny in 2009, deadlocked 3-3 on the development issue, with Mougolias, Lester Szendlak and Democrat Mark Dobryzki opposing the mayor. Jezierny's vote broke the tie.

Is there a done deal, as Rob Martwick alleges? Gadzinski's term as trustee ends in 2015. If he runs against Martwick in 2012, he'll face consequences in 2015. Gadzinski allegedly wants a guarantee of $100,000 from Springfield Republicans. No way. Martwick is as good as elected.

 Another subtext is the battle between Alderman John Arena (45th), who is the ward's Democratic committeeman, and John Garrido, whom he beat 6,083-6,053 in the 2011 runoff. Both are readying for a 2015 rematch. Arena backed Martwick and ran a joint campaign with him. Martwick got 2,288 votes in the ward and won 33 of 53 precincts, while Arena got 3,779 votes for committeeman. Garrido backed Stoppa, who got 1,816 votes in the 45th Ward.

What does 2012 portend for 2015? Garrido noted that turnout was much lower on March 20 than in 2011 -- - 5,165 compared to 12,136. Garrido's goal, in military terminology, is to maintain his skirmish line before the big battle. He needs to keep his organization active, which means another anti-Arena/Martwick assault in November. If Gadzinski doesn't run, a Garrido-backed third-party candidate may surface.

55th Illinois House District (Park Ridge, Des Plaines): It's "Mulligan Madness," and it gets weirder and weirder. First, 20-year state Representative Rosemary Mulligan botched her nominating petitions and got tossed off the ballot. Then she decided to wage a write-in campaign. Then the Springfield Republicans decided that they wouldn't help her, so she retired. Then she sort of made a write-in bid, getting 43 votes, to Susan Sweeney's 2,236 write-ins. Now Mulligan, who is the Maine Township Republican committeeman and a fervent abortion rights supporter, apparently will not back Sweeney because she is pro-life.

That should make Democrat Marty Moylan, the Des Plaines mayor, a cinch to win, but on March 20, 8,000 people voted in other Republican primary races in the district, and Moylan got only 3,518 votes in his uncontested race.

"She's an IBM executive, a single mom with three kids, and a great campaigner," an aide to House Republican leader Tom Cross said of Sweeney. "She can win." Concedes Moylan, who is pro-choice: "It will be a tough race."

Moylan is favored. "I did not raise taxes for two years," he said. "I shrank the size of city government by 60 employees, and I created 1,800 jobs through the Rivers Casino and Hart-Marx." This much is certain: "Mulligan Madness" will soon end.