Mike Riopell, The Southern Springfield Bureau

SPRINGFIELD - The hometown of TV's Simpsons family is well-known for the colorful, four-fingered and mostly dysfunctional cast of characters that walks its streets.

Fourteen towns across the country want to be that Springfield.

With the much-awaited release of "The Simpsons Movie" looming in the coming weeks, towns named Springfield from New Jersey to Illinois to Oregon are vying to host the film premiere.

As part of a publicity blitz for the movie, 20th Century Fox sent cities that chose to participate video equipment and props, including a can of Simpson-skin-tone yellow paint, to make a short film about why they should get the premiere.

People have been voting for their favorites at www.thesimpsons.usatoday.com. Voting ends at midnight Monday.

Here in Springfield, city officials have been energetically pumping the project for weeks and are nervously awaiting the results.

"We are literally sitting on pins and needles," said city spokesman Ernie Slottag.

He says they want the tourist dollars that could come with being affiliated with the popular show.

But others think local officials' recent enthusiasm to host the movie isn't worth the effort as the real Springfield fights homelessness and other issues.

"They seem to be awfully focused on this," resident Jim Valentine said.

Slottag says he's not worried about being affiliated with a fictional town well-known for its lazy police, three-eyed fish and record-setting overweight citizenry.

At the annual Taste of Downtown in Springfield on Saturday, several residents already said they had voted for Illinois early and often.

"The Simpsons' is a satire of America," said Chris Pressnall, a local fan.

Sara Lang said it'd simply be fun to host a major movie premiere, and she liked the city's video.

"I like the evidence that they laid out with actual references to actual episodes," she said.

Among the evidence that the Illinois and fictional Springfields are similar:

Like the fictional town, this Springfield is home to a prominent power plant, visible from many parts of the city. And the operator bears an eerie resemblance to the show's tyrant plant-owner C. Montgomery Burns.

The real Springfield High School resembles the shape of Bart and Lisa's school.

Both Springfields claim a nearby town of Shelbyville.

Homer's obsession with doughnuts could be embodied in the well-known Mel-O-Cream shops.

Several episodes contain vague references to Illinois. One depicts the grave of prominent politician Adlai Stevenson, who's buried in Bloomington.

Slottag says the city hasn't planned for the premiere yet because they're still just hoping to beat out the 14 other Springfields.

The film opens July 27.

mike.riopell@lee.net / (217) 789-0865