High time to decide

And so there were city councilors and former mayoral rivals Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon yesterday morning, standing in that familiar spot, trying to win converts among the hordes of commuters disgorged from buses and rushing to trains. The two joined forces after the preliminary a couple of weeks ago, with Flaherty pledging to make Yoon deputy mayor if voters choose Flaherty over incumbent Thomas M. Menino in November.

The two were chipper, despite the fact that it was 7:30 a.m. and hundreds of people didn’t want to make eye contact. Of course, the deepening controversy over a top Menino aide’s missing e-mails couldn’t have hurt.

“Good morning girls, how are you?’’ Flaherty yelled to a few middle-age women chatting nearby. “Gimme five!’’ he said to every kid who got close. “You want a sticker? There you go,’’ he said, pulling a Flaherty-Yoon sticker from his own lapel and pressing it to one delighted little boy’s chest.

Yoon stood nearby, squeezing shoulders, shaking hands.

“Are you going for the same thing this time?’’ a man who had voted for Yoon in September asked him, confused.

“Yeah, as deputy mayor,’’ Yoon said. After a chat about improving the schools, Yoon escorted his devotee - and his vote - over to his gray-haired teammate.

Countless municipal hopefuls have campaigned here over the years, but the clock has never hung above a candidacy like this. The councilors’ gambit has awakened a lot of interest in a race that had promised to be a coma-inducing rout. The unofficial ticket is a good deal for Yoon, who came within a couple thousand votes of being on November’s ballot and would otherwise be looking for a job right now. And it’s a great one for Flaherty. In addition to the extra votes he will almost certainly pick up, he now has a walking rebuttal to the argument that he’s too old-school.

“This is just a small sample of what a Flaherty administration will be like,’’ he told a voter yesterday, explaining the innovative pairing.

The team was playing pretty well yesterday. Sure, the voters most likely to stop and chat were already converts, but there were a lot, and they were passionate.

“I’m really excited,’’ one woman said, racing by Flaherty. “You’ve got my vote!’’

This being Jamaica Plain, several voters I spoke to were more enthusiastic about Yoon than Flaherty.

“Sam is a breath of fresh air,’’ said Ellyn Zitzer, who lives in Roslindale. “I feel he will change things. I wouldn’t vote for Flaherty without him.’’

The Flaherty and Yoon people have been working hard to convince people that this isn’t just some electoral gimmick. Flaherty has taken on some of Yoon’s campaign workers and volunteers, and signed onto Yoon’s call for mayoral term limits. United in their opposition to Menino, they weren’t exactly bitter enemies during the campaign, anyway.

The merger isn’t entirely convincing for some, however.

“I was with you, but now it looks like you flip-flopped,’’ said Shirley Milfort, West Roxbury resident. “You guys disagreed on things.’’

Yoon put his hands on her shoulders to calm her, but Milfort was too mad.

“We don’t agree on everything, but we agree on enough to work together,’’ he said. “I don’t want to wait four more years for change.’’

“Well, it makes me uncomfortable,’’ Milfort snapped. “I’m getting ready to vote for Mr. Menino. Mr. Flaherty, he’s part of the old boys’ club.’’

The hands on the shoulders again. Then, instead of trying to sell Milfort on Flaherty’s merits, Yoon sold himself.

“I know where you’re coming from,’’ Yoon said soothingly. “But if you’re saying he’s old boy, I’m new boy.’’

The team-building has a ways to go.

Yvonne Abraham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at abraham@globe.com.