Video: Michael Flaherty loses to Sam Yoon, wins Dropkick Murphys endorsement in WFNX Primary

If you were MICHAEL FLAHERTY this morning, you might start to think hard about SAM YOON's ground game. As previously reported, the two Democractic Mayoral candidates, who'll be facing off against each other in less than two months for the right to take on Menino in the November primary, were scheduled to go head-to-head this morning on WFNX's morning show, the Sandbox. The contest? "My Song Is Better Than Your Song." The problem? For the first time in the history of the contest, both candidates -- who have to submit their choices in advance -- picked the same exact song: the Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up To Boston."

Which pretty much killed the whole idea of the game, which is ostensibly to pit one man against another in a duel of musical-aesthetic principles. In a way it made it more interesting -- because with that scrim of mediated contention removed, it simply became a popularity contest, and perhaps a microcosm of the actual race. The results? Drawing record-setting turnout, WFNX reported that phone votes were a dead heat, but Yoon pulled away by a three-to-one margin in on-line and instant-message voting -- even though Dropkick Murphys founder KEN CASEY personally called in to register his endorsement of Flaherty and cast a vote. (As the Sandbox pointed out, this also was the first time an artist has called the station to vote for his own song.) 

Yoon has now won "My Song" six weeks in a row -- and is clearly benefitting from a get-out-the-vote campaign that, if it doesn't help him get elected mayor, could be useful on some kind of competitive reality show. Still, once it became clear that both candidates had picked the same song, Yoon stayed positive while Flaherty went negative. Flaherty used the song's title to label Yoon a carpetbagger, but Yoon turned that subtle dig around by claiming he'd picked the song because his ancestors had been sailors, some of them with wooden legs. Yoon added that he also picked the song because he wanted to dare Flaherty supporters to vote against  the Dropkicks. Who says this guy doesn't know politics?

If there's anything else you need to know about the Yoon-Flaherty race, try to find last week's cover story on newsstands, or, you know, just read it over here.