There are 18 candidates so far that want to fill the seat once held by Harry Thomas, Jr. Yesterday, residents started hearing from them.

President Barack Obama, fresh off fielding the questions of Northern Virginians, will hold a Facebook town hall event this afternoon from California — and he wants your questions! The theme of the event is “Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity” — hmm, shared prosperity, eh? Sounds like the perfect opportunity to ask him why he felt the need to sell out the District on abortion funding, even though more income taxes go to our city than to his home/office.

We’re only one week out from the day the District will select its new at-large Councilmember in a special election — but that doesn’t mean you’ve run out of time to educate yourself about the candidates in the race. Hardly! And tonight is just as good a time as any; after all, who better to guide you through where the candidates stand on the issues than our own Martin Austermuhle?

With early voting having begun this week and the election day less than two weeks away, the contest for the April 26 At-Large Special Election remains fluid and unsettled, with no one candidate yet rising above the rest. The uncertainties in the campaign to fill the seat once occupied by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown is a product not only of the candidates, though, but of the ever-shifting political environment in the District.

Yesterday, eight hopefuls contesting the At-Large special election on April 26 gathered for the first candidate forum of the season. Josh Lopez, Bryan Weaver, Jacque Patterson, Stanley Mayes, Vincent Orange, Alan Page, Patrick Mara and Interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle took turns answering a host of questions ranging from statehood to schools and transportation to taxes.

…but they’re the good kind.

President Obama with mayoral candidate Sulaimon Brown. Though the District’s mayoral campaign is still relatively sleepy, the next few months promise a number of opportunities for the candidates to meet face-to-face against each other, as civic associations and other organizations line up to host forums and debates. On Wednesday we received word of what looks like the first such forum of the season, to be co-hosted by the Cleveland Park Citizens Association, Foxhall Community…