A week after President Obama’s Twitter Town Hall, Charleston mayoral candidate David Farrow will be holding a Facebook Town Hall Meeting to answer voters’ questions Thursday night.

Farrow, a former journalist and political newcomer, has not been shy in his strident criticism of 36-year incumbent Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. He says he will work to establish a 12-year term limit for mayors if elected.

“I don’t like the way he treats Charleston like a fiefdom, like his own private charge,” Farrow says. An underdog in funding, political capital, and name recognition, Farrow says he hopes the online event will earn him some name recognition. He started Facebook and Twitter accounts for the campaign in February, and so far he has just over 70 likes and 110 followers, respectively. He says he’s not much of a baby kisser, but he does strike up conversations in the checkout aisle and speak at Tea Party and Republican meetings.

The Riley campaign, meanwhile, has hired 16 college students to get community input by canvassing door to door. Monica Biddix, Farrow’s campaign manager, says she had heard about Joe’s Neighborhood Corps.

“We’re not going to be able to raise as much money as Mayor Riley,” Biddix says, “so we’re going to have to compensate for that by doing different methods of campaigning.”

Farrow is one of four contenders in the November election, along with Riley, middle school teacher Craig Jelks, and City Councilman William Dudley Gregorie. His campaign platform includes diverting tax money from aesthetic projects like the Gaillard Auditorium makeover, funding infrastructure projects like the work to improve drainage on the Crosstown, and opposing the new Union Pier cruise ship terminal.

You can submit questions in advance for the Town Hall event via Twitter, Facebook, text message (to 843-735-2418), or e-mail). Farrow plans to hold a Town Hall session every Thursday night till Election Day.

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