NEW YORK -- This election year, it is easy to find Web sites profiling candidates or listing primary results. The special election version of Public Agenda Online (www.publicagenda.org), which debuts Monday, is one of the few to delve into the issues that the candidates are talking about.

The new edition expands upon a critically acclaimed Web site that has been selected as a top site by USA Today, MSNBC.com and Yahoo!, among others. The editor of Brill s Content, Eric Effron, calls it remarkably balanced and thorough.

The new site features Clarifying Issues 2000, a series of guides that can be easily downloaded, printed and saved for reference. Culled from Public Agenda Online's 2,500 Web pages, each 10- to 12-page guide lays out the most salient facts and discusses the pros and cons of different approaches on race, education, American foreign policy and other issues. Voters can find out, for example:

• Which states already have partial birth abortion bans and where they are tied up in court;
• Whether the number of Americans without health insurance has increased or decreased since President Clinton came into office;
• And what percentage of the federal budget goes to international affairs and foreign aid.

Public Agenda Online is also offering a free weekly e-mail newsletter that will highlight important information on issues as they emerge during the campaign. It is modeled on the popular Public Agenda Alert, which visitors may also subscribe to through the site.

The new home page also includes links to the best nonpartisan Web sites that inform visitors about who is running for office and their positions on different policies.

Public Agenda also produced a Clarifying Issues guide for the 1996 election, which was endorsed by the National Council for the Social Studies, reprinted in newspapers and used in an election Web site created at the time by The New York Times and National Public Radio. The 2000 version will also be used as curriculum material by Kids Voting USA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that encourages young people to get involved in government.

Public Agenda, in conjunction with the Kettering Foundation, also publishes magazine length guides that help citizens think through their own positions on a number of public policy questions related to the election. The most recent booklet examined urban sprawl and the next, due out this spring, will focus on children and violence. The illustrated booklets, which are used in grassroots discussions around the country, may be ordered for $6 each, shipping and handling included, by using a form available at www.publicagenda.org.

Public Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in New York City that is well respected for its influential public opinion polls and its balanced education materials. Its mission is to inform leaders about the public s views and inform citizens about government policy. It was founded in 1975 by Cyrus R. Vance, the former secretary of state, and Daniel Yankelovich, the social scientist and author. The Web site is underwritten by The Markle Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Open Society Institute, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Ashland Oil Foundation, Citigroup Foundation, GE Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.