In a final, futile attempt to sway votes before the closure of primary election poles, candidates at last began to distinguish themselves through debate Thursday morning at the LDS Institute of Religion.

While primary results will be announced this morning — less than 24 hours after the debate — some candidates took the debate as an opportunity to show their strength as the voting hours dwindled.

You had to hand it to the More 4 U Party in this debate. While other parties had a tendency to regurgitate the answers given in many other debates, which I suppose is par for the course, More 4 U grabbed the bull by the horns and addressed questions about its platform — the target of scrutiny through much of these elections.

“We have come under a lot of criticism,” admitted More 4 U vice-presidential candidate Craig Hammond. “We understand the questions coming from people.”

The party members went on to add that though they were not born and raised in the Associated Students of the University of Utah, they have researched their platform ideas extensively, and they have tangible goals that can be met with the student support they hope to facilitate in office.

The rogue underdog of this year’s elections, More 4 U has risen above the gossip to show its true colors. The only question lingering is: Did the change come too late in the game?

The party with home-court advantage was undoubtedly the Forward Party, whose presidential and vice presidential candidates are well-known in the LDS Institute through various involvement there.

Had there been more than 20 people in attendance at the debate, Forward presidential candidate Rick Pehrson would have been able to take the institute crowd by storm with his decree that, “It is imperative for the ASUU president and vice president to understand the institute very well.”

Without a doubt, if it were only the institute who got to vote, Forward would win the elections outright. However, this is not the case. Whether or not Forward has enough support outside the institute will be determined by this morning’s results.

Out of the time-out chair in the corner, and back into the limelight of political precision, is the Activate Party. Watching Activate presidential candidate Cameron Beech answer questions with barefaced perfection, one can’t help but wonder if he was bred to be a politician.

His party has a solid platform, and it would do a good job representing the voice of the students in the administration. There is no doubt that Beech and his party would run ASUU like a well-oiled, insured, indestructible machine.

There are no visible cracks in the Activate Party’s structure, but will perfection in place of character win it enough votes to succeed in the primaries?

Finally, there is the FUSE Party, which is like a well-balanced meal — good for you in every way. There really is no other way to describe it. It has original ideas, diversity among its candidates, obvious intelligence and good personalities to boot. It — like Activate — has shown no flaws thus far, but has been able to do so without expending personality.

The FUSE Party has a wholesome quality, but is being wholesome enough to get it noticed by voters looking for a breath of fresh air in ASUU?

Either way, for two parties, the show is over, and for the other two the battle is only halfway done.

We will know who’s who when the results come in at 10 a.m. on the Union Patio.