Hey, Mr. Council Candidate, play a song for me

Of the many quirks of Cincinnati politics, here's one of the most perplexing: campaign jingles just won't die.

Maybe it's because radio is such an important part of Cincinnati's political culture, or because in a field race of 31 candidates, everybody needs a gimmick. Or maybe we're just 10 years behind. After all, political jingles fell out of favor everywhere else years ago.

Charterite Chris Bortz is not the only one with a jingle this year -- an R&B jingle now on the airwaves goes, "Vote for Cecil Thomas/He'll work for you, that's a promise." But for unadulterated banjo schtick, Cincinnati hasn't heard cornball like this since Gene Snyder's "He's Your Working Congressman."

Here are the lyrics, sung to the tune of an old folk song "No Hips at All:"

In Cincinnati there's something amiss,
The Queen City simply can'’t go on like this
We need some changes, ideas of all sorts
So come this November we are voting for Bortz

(Refrain)
We are voting for Bortz
We are voting for Bortz
We like the platform of change he supports
We're voting for Bortz
We're voting for Bortz
Come this November we're voting for Bortz

We look at our council and what do we see,
Things are not what we would like them to be,
We checked out their record,
We read the reports,
So come this November we are voting for Bortz

(Refrain)

When casting our ballots on Election Day,
We need folks on council who can lead the way,
Because we like what Chris he purports,
Come this November we are voting for Bortz

(Refrain)

Here is is in .mp3 format, to annoy your co-workers.

Bortz said the credit -- or the blame -- goes exclusively to family friend Robert Dinerman, who wrote and performed the song.

"He came up with it on his own, as he is apt to do, and played it for us," Bortz said in an e-mail. "We all thought it was hilarious and even kind of catchy. We felt compelled to share it with the world. It has become a bit of a mantra among my campaign team -- 'We're voting for Bortz, we're voting for Bortz, we're voting for Bortz...' I'll only be concerned if it keeps up after the election."