Tonight, at an open forum in Riverdale, northwest Bronx voters will have their first chance to compare the candidates looking to take over for the departing Oliver Koppell in the 11th Council District, which includes Norwood, Bedford Park, Riverdale, Kingsbridge and Woodlawn.

This is basically a two-horse race between Cliff Stanton, a businessman and local activist who’s positioning himself as the anti-establishment candidate, and Andrew Cohen, a lawyer and local community board member who is favored by the Bronx political establishment.

There is also an underdog, Cheryl Keeling, a businesswoman and track coach whose slogan is “Running 4 Change,” and a wildcard in Ari Hoffnung, who has nearly $80,000 stashed from his failed 11th District campaign in 2008, but hasn’t declared and doesn’t appear to be raising any money.

Cohen continues to dominate in terms of endorsements (from elected officials and labor unions) and fundraising (he’s raised $91,927 so far), but Stanton is showing no signs of slowing down and has been much more visible in Norwood and Bedford Park than Cohen.

Stanton has raised $57,361, but also has more contributors (317) than Cohen (265). Keeling, meanwhile, has raised just $2,315 from 38 donors.

Tonight’s forum, which will focus on environmental issues and is being hosted by more than a dozen mostly Riverdale-based organizations, marks the first time the candidates will all be answering questions in the same room at the same time. Should be interesting.

The forum is being held at the Riverdale Y, 5625 Arlington Ave. from 7 to 9 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so the hosts are asking attendees to RSVP.  For more information, contact Joshua Klainberg at (212) 361-6350 ext. 207 or jklainberg@nylcv.org.