EDITORIAL ASK THE CANDIDATES GOT A QUESTION FOR HAHN AND VILLARAIGOSA? SEND IT OUR WAY.

OVER the course of this year's campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, we've heard plenty of political boilerplate - group-tested slogans, empty promises, grandiose ideas with no attachment to reality.

We need better.

The beleaguered public needs real answers to the city's pressing problems and concerns. And, for that, we need real questions for the two men vying to be mayor.

And who better to provide those questions than the people of Los Angeles?

Here's your chance.

If you've got a question for the candidates - about schools, about traffic, about any issue you deem important - e-mail it to us at dnforum(at)dailynews.com, or by fax at [phone]. Please keep your questions to 25 words or less, and make sure they apply to both candidates.

We'll select the best questions, then pass them along to Mayor James Hahn and City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa. Both mayoral candidates have agreed to provide answers, which we'll run in a future Sunday Viewpoint section.

This is your opportunity to present the hard, important questions that too often go unasked.

It's also the candidates' opportunity to prove themselves serious and worthy of the job they're seeking.

Will they be direct, or will they dodge the questions?

Will they answer with real facts and tangible commitments, or with airy sentiments and open-ended promises?

Will they take you and your concerns seriously, or will they try to play you for a fool by ducking the issue?

Soon we'll know.

The opportunity for a real debate, for a real clash of visions and a real look at the issues, is at hand. And it all starts with informed citizens willing to hold the candidates accountable.

It's time to demand real answers from our politicians, and for that, we need your questions.

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SEND US YOUR QUESTION