Order the Poynter Election Handbook, 3rd Edition, online.

As the campaign trail moves into high gear, don't get left behind because the issues aren't clear. There are many online sources to help you get up to speed important current events. ($ indicates fee-based sites.

All Politics, from Time magazine and CNN, offers commentaries and analysis.

The Center for the American Woman and Politics lists officeholders, turnout information, gender gap numbers, and other research.

Congress.org is put up by Capitol Advantage and Issue Dynamics. It offers an information search on bills, key votes and scorecards prepared by various interest organizations on members of Congress. There’s also information on state governors.

Some congressional offices can be reached online and asked for voting attendance and votes cast by individual members. Contact information is compiled at:

Congressional Quarterly offers a wide variety of reference information on government and politics. ($)

On Dialog, a Dialindex search can be conducted on a topic or issue. The listing of stories containing that term can provide ideas on various angles to the issue. Then searching for information on the issue in a particular database will turn up specific background information. ($)

The Electronic Policy Network, sponsored by American Prospect, a liberal publication, has analysis and background on issues from that perspective.

The Environmental Working Group has reports on environmental issues and campaign finance.

The Government Printing Office offers texts of the congressional record, bills, and government documents.

Interest groups on the Internet can be searched by topic. A list of search engines that allow searching by key word can be found at Starting Point.

The Jefferson Project offers a nonpartisan guide to online political resources, with links and a campaign archive.

The Library of Congress provides the text of legislation and other officials records of Congress.

National Journal’s Cloakroom is a self-described "site for political insiders’’ watching Congress and the administration. It has state-by-state demographics and election schedules. Requires membership.

Nexis can be used to search for articles that have appeared on an issue or for candidate profiles. The term "analysis" or "background" is often added to stories and can help pinpoint substantive articles. Nexis often sets up special topic libraries when an issue gets big. ($)

Politics1, an Internet guide to politics, has a useful list of links to issue advocacy groups, sorted by issue and ideology.

Profnet, a free service linking university public information officers, can be used to locate professors and researchers who can talk about a specific issue. Its website offers a searchable database and accepts e-mail queries.

Policy.com offers content from advocacy groups, an issues library, and an archive of weekly issues backgrounders.

Public Agenda, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization, has a subscription service for journalists offering background on issues. ($)

Town Hall, a site from the Heritage Foundation, among others, offers a way to "explore the new conservative world."

University of Michigan Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for local, state, and federal government information.

Campaigns & Elections magazine and Congressional Quarterly publish Washington Alert, a database service from has the text of CQ Research Reports providing analyses, pros, and cons of current issues. ($)

Try a free version of a database service offered by the Duke University Libraries. It includes the text of research reports and current issues

Washingtonpost.com’s On Politics offers continuously updated political coverage from The Washington Post. It also has directories and profiles of government officials and issues information.