I guess I should start paying attention to the yard signs now...

So, as of yesterday, I’m officially registered to vote in the District of Columbia. Hooray. Now I suppose it’s time to get to know the 2006 DC mayoral candidates. Through the WaPo’s coverage and the candidates’ own web pages, I have learned some interesting information about each of the contenders.

Michael Brown: He’s a lawyer, his favorite TV show is “Entourage,” and his favorite DC location is Ben’s Chili Bowl. He says he wants to be mayor “to build a bridge between the residents who have reaped the benefits of the economic development renaissance and those who have not.”

Linda Cropp: She was born in Atlanta, and she was the first woman elected Chairman of the DC Council. Her key talking points include education, affordable housing, safety, a strong workforce, health, democracy and voting rights, and generally improving the lives of families and communities.

Adrian Fenty: He’s also an attorney, and he was one of two original introducers of legislation to ban smoking in nearly all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants. He seems to touch on all of the issues, but he uniquely mentions civic engagement, environmental awareness, and supporting the arts.

Marie Johns: She has only lived in DC since 1999, and she began her career as a secretary and worked her way up to become President and CEO of Verizon, Washington, DC. Like the other candidates, she speaks volumes about improving education and economic development, and she also focuses heavily on fighting HIV/AIDS.

Vincent Orange: He has quite the impressive academic background—in addition to having his JD, he’s a CPA and has a LLM in taxation from Georgetown. His platform can be boiled down to “the three E’s”—education, employment, and economic development.

That about covers my knowledge of the candidates. Are any of y’all involved with local politics? Can you give me more information about any or all of these individuals? Since they’re all quite liberal (I wouldn’t expect otherwise in DC), and since many of their key issues are the same, what distinguishes these folks?

UPDATE: I'm a big frickin' idiot. I just realized that, since all of the aforementioned candidates are Democrats, and since I don't associate with any political party, and since you have to be registered to vote with a specific party to vote in its primary election, I won't be choosing between these five fine candidates. I'm tellin' ya, having non-partisan principles was much easier back in Tennessee...