A primary primer on some of the issues discussed by the candidates:

Affirmative action — Affirmative action dates to 1961, when President Kennedy signed an executive order calling on companies that received federal contracts to hire more minority workers. Later presidents, including Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, expanded the mandate. Since then, these programs have been restricted by U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including a 1995 opinion in which the court said affirmative action must be used to redress a specific pattern of racial discrimination instead of perceived societywide disadvantage. As a result of the decision, the Clinton administration pulled the plug on dozens of affirmative action programs. His presumed opponent, Republican Bob Dole, teamed with Florida Rep. Charles Canady to call for an end to all affirmative action programs, while enhancing business opportunities for minorities and women through tax breaks and incentives.

Debt — This is the accumulation of the deficits run up by the government over the years. The country now has a $5 trillion debt — or $5,139,963,594,008.65 as of last Wednesday — a figure expected to reach nearly $7 trillion by 2005. To put this in perspective, if you counted one dollar for every second, it would take 161,670 years to count to $5 trillion. In 1994, interest paid on the federal debt totaled $297 billion — more than the amount spent on national defense — and accounted for more than 20 percent of all federal spending. Many economists say that the deficit and debt affect the average American in part because those factors cause interest rates to rise.

Defense — For fiscal year 1996, President Clinton proposed spending $266 billion on national defense. For FY 1997, the White House proposed a $259 billion defense budget, about 16 cents of every tax dollar.

Deficit — This is the difference between the amount the government takes in and the amount it spends each year. The federal government last posted a budget surplus in 1969, when spending on mandatory entitlement programs, such as Medicare and food stamps, consumed 33 cents of every tax dollar. Now mandatory spending has increased to 56 cents of every tax dollar, which has prompted calls for reform of social programs. But while polls show that Americans favor cutting the deficit, citizens also tend to be strongly opposed to slashing entitlement spending.

Entitlements — In 1995, the government spent $160 billion on Medicare, which serves the nation’s elderly, a figure that increased to $178 billion for FY 1996. The U.S. government spent another $89 billion on Medicaid, which contributes to state efforts to serve the needy. In 1994, Medicaid accounted for nearly one-fifth of all state spending, almost double from 1987. Combined, Medicare and Medicaid consume 18 cents of every tax dollar. Without reform, both funds are heading toward bankruptcy within a few years after the turn of the century, just when the nation’s baby boomers will retire. To avoid this, congressional Republicans have proposed reducing the Medicaid budget’s rate of growth and giving states an annual lump-sum payment. Similarly, Social Security spending has increased from $336 billion in 1995 to $351 billion in 1996. It now takes 22 cents of every tax dollar.

Foreign spending — In the stopgap spending bill signed by the president in January, the government agreed to spend $12.1 billion on foreign aid, of which about $3 billion goes to Israel, and smaller amounts to several other countries. International affairs spending accounts for about 1 cent of every tax dollar.

Revenue-neutral — A tax restructuring plan is revenue-neutral if the net result essentially costs the government nothing because the losses in one part of the tax system are offset by gains in another part.

School choice — The next Congress is expected to review several bills that would give parents greater control over choosing a school for their children. Some of the proposals would allow parents to receive vouchers to pay for education at private schools, including at least partial funding for attending religious facilities or schooling at home. In April, a school choice bill was passed by the Maine House of Representatives but died in the Senate.

Taxes and families — President Clinton has proposed an additional $300 deduction for each dependent child under age 12 for 1996-1998. In later years, the deduction would increase to $500 per child. The full credit would be available only to families with incomes below $60,000, and phased out as incomes rose to $75,000. A GOP version of the plan, with higher income thresholds, would cost the government about $150 billion in revenue over seven years.

Sources: The Reporter’s Source Book, published by Project Vote Smart; Common Cents, by former U.S. Rep. Timothy Penny; Facts on File; various World Wide Web sites.