MSU College Libertarians President Bobby Fox said he wants student-debate audiences to grasp the similarities and differences of the three parties, and fully understanding the issues discussed.

“I hope (students) end up challenging their beliefs and thinking about the issues differently after the debate than what they had thought before the debate,” Fox said.

International relations senior Will Hack moderated the debate. After each group made an opening statement, the groups answered prepared questions before opening the debate up for questions from the audience.

Two members from each group were present on the floor to answer Hack’s questions and to respond to their opponents’ statements.

The three groups sparred with each other regarding jobs, taxes and foreign policies.

“Jobs (are), in my opinion, the most important issue in (the) next four years,” said Cody Hibbs, MSU College Republicans’ vice chair.

Hibbs said presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s five-step plan is a huge, but necessary, vision …

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… and a promising, all-encompassing strategy for the U.S.

MSU College Democrats President Stephen Wooden then said he argued the Obama administration has provided the private sector with three years of job growth.

“Unemployment has reached a new low of 7.8 percent in (the) past four years,” Wooden said. “If we can’t work with the republicans, we’ll work with the middle class.”

Marketing freshman Charlie Thompson said he attended the debate to observe how the MSU College Libertarians fared against the other two groups.

“I mainly want to see what they have to say about taxes and education,” Thompson said. “I just attended the first libertarian meeting, so I was hoping to get some more insight.”

He said although he thinks some libertarian ideas are more attractive than democrats’ or republicans’, he attended the debate with a very open mind in preparation of casting his first ballot for this year’s presidential election.

Thursday’s debate was the fourth of its kind among the three student political groups in recent years. Former MSU College Libertarians President Matt Needham organized the first MSU student debate in fall 2010 as a way for each group to showcase its ideas and viewpoints to students. A followup debate in spring 2011 focused on education policy, and the fall 2011 debate featured discussion of the government’s role in job creation.