By Bill Forry

Great. Just in time for the Democratic convention, the Boston City Council Players bring us their very own version of "That '70s Show."

A house divided, black and brown versus white. Institutional racism. The Globe in the middle of the firestorm, accused of stoking the fire. All we need now are some yellow buses and checkered bell-bottoms and we're good to go.

It's all a big, brilliant diversion, of course, but you have to hand it to Charles Yancey and company: the "Crazy Caucus," as their detractors have called them, may in fact be a little bit crazy, but they're far from dumb.

District Four's Yancey, who just a few months ago was getting advice that he should step aside voluntarily rather than get his head handed to him by up-and-coming rival Ego Ezedi, is riding a major wave of sympathy among his old-school base. Yancey's counting on the elders of the District Four, many of whom still look askance at the power structure of this city, to rally to his side in his hour of need. From all appearances, it's working - and just in time for next Tuesday's balloting.

Only trouble for Yancey is he may be peaking too early. He's going to win next Tuesday, but so will Ego Ezedi. Thanks to a gentleman named Arthur L. Sutton - who actually started his own paper a few years ago, The People's Voice, just to have a tool to bludgeon Yancey with - there'll be a round two in the Ezedi-Yancey matchup on November 4. And Ezedi still has a shot to win that vote - if he can keep his political liabilities sidelined.

Sadly, Ezedi's best political allies are his liabilities at the moment. Exhibit A is Mike Flaherty, the well-meaning city council prez who at present has become the issue in this race, inadvertantly leaving Ezedi on the defensive in his own backyard, where he's having to explain his friendships, rather than trumpet his own solid resume.

Flaherty really does want Yancey gone and he does think he's a bad colleague. But sometimes honesty ain't the best policy in this business. Calling Yancey "silly" and a "fraud," especially in the Globe, was a misstep, akin to tossing Yancey a life preserver. And, by gaveling down measures proposed by the minority councillors - and not others - Flaherty has damaged his own reputation as a crossover candidate with Menino-like, colorblind appeal.

Exhibit B is pretty much any other white guy who even thinks about wearing an Ezedi button.

Unfair? Backwards? Sure it is. The great irony here is that for the first time in decades, District Four has produced a bona fide threat in Ezedi, a guy thought to have the chops not just to deep-six Yancey, but to be a contender for ... pick an office. Ezedi has a true grassroots base in black Boston through his role as a minister in Mattapan. But he's also got strong allegiances with councillors like Maureen Feeney and Rob Consalvo, and ties to Washington through his former boss, Congressman Mike Capuano. His admirers cut through racial lines, making him one of a handful of people with crossover potential, the very symbol of a new Boston where color lines get blurred into submission.

How does that make Ego Ezedi an "Uncle Tom," you may ask?

It doesn't. But when you're Charles Yancey - and you have precious little room to maneuver - you'll grab whatever floats your way. It doesn't hurt to have one of the city's most astute and seasoned political activists, Mr. Chuck Turner, at your service. This Tuesday, Turner churned out a series of attack letters aimed at keeping the light and heat on "them" and off of Charles and Ego. Turner at once condemned Flaherty, Globe scribe Adrian Walker, and a phalanx of Globe editors, all the while demanding apologies for "manipulating" his statements and extra space in the Globe op-ed section to keep the drama percolating right through election day.

Friends of Mike and Ego will bemoan this as underhanded treachery, playing the race card &emdash; all kinds of evil. Really, what the Caucus has done shouldn't come as a surprise at all. It's good, old fashioned, down-and-dirty Boston politics, the kind that old-timers like to wax on about as though they buried it in some time capsule. But that playbook's still in circulation. Only, right now, it's checked out under the name Charles Yancey.

Timing is everything, though. And a lot can happen between now and November 4. If you're Ego Ezedi, it's time to stop letting your story be told through the dusty lens of another man's Boston.

Go tell your story, Ego. It's the only way to win.