Bob Bennett (R)
This is Bennett's first run at elective office, but as the youngest son of former GOP Sen. Wallace F. Bennett, he is no stranger to politics.
Bennett has built a campaign around one word - change. And he's pushed it in innovative TV commercials for more than nine months.
Bennett, 58, says Congress must be reformed radically before other major federal problems, like the deficit, can be solved. He's for a balanced-budget amendment, with the provision to hold down tax increases.
He favors a line-item veto for the president. He wants to cut congressional staffs and limit the terms of House and Senate members to 12 years each.
Bennett says anyone who is serious about reducing the federal deficit must talk about entitlement programs, like Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. While saying he won't reduce those benefits, he is willing to look at controlling their growth by linking them to the cost of living.
He wants some kind of means test for Social Security so that rich Americans who don't really need the money won't get it.
Bennett doesn't want to cut defense spending beyond what is recommended by President Bush, saying in the past America has reduced military spending after a major conflict only to find itself unprepared for a new crisis.
Bennett came from way behind to beat fellow Republican Joe Cannon in the GOP primary. A millionaire, Bennett has spent upward of $1.5 million of his own money on the race so far.
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Wayne Owens (D)
Wayne Owens has been well known to Utahns for 20 years.
He first won a U.S. House seat in 1972, he lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1974 and lost a governor's race in 1984 but regained his House seat in 1986. He was re-elected in 1988 and 1990.
Now he's trying for the Senate again, saying he has a proven record of fighting and winning for Utah in Congress. In fact, fighting for Utah is his theme this year.
He points to the Central Utah Project and other "victories" as evidence that he is the best man for the Senate.
In a state where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2 to 1, Owens says the anticipated election of Democrat Bill Clinton makes it more important than ever that Utah have a Democrat in the U.S. Senate - "to take the state's interest all the way to the White House."
Owens, 55, says he is a conservative on fiscal matters, a moderate on social issues.
He is in favor of a balanced-budget amendment. He favors a "trial" period for a presidential line-item veto. He agrees congressional staffs should be trimmed, but he opposes term limitations for House and Senate members. Instead, Owens advocates a strict time limit on committee chairmanships.
To solve health-care problems, Owens favors a private/public solution: expand Medicare and Medicaid and then require businesses to pay 5 percent of payroll for health insurance. Employees would contribute 3 percent of payroll for insurance and government would pick up costs above the combined 8 percent.
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Anita R. Morrow (Pop)
Populist Party candidate Anita R. Morrow, 46, Holladay, is an office manager and registered nurse.
She believes many of the country's woes would be cured by eliminating the Federal Reserve. Morrow sees that agency as a greedy private banking corporation that charges taxpayers interest on their own money.
Morrow also wants to trim government operations significantly and switch to a gold- and silver-backed currency. She would return many matters, such as education and prayer in school, back to local levels, and have each state "regard itself as a tiny little nation."
Morrow also strongly objects to pari-mutuel gambling.
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Maury Modine
Libertarian Party candidate Maury Modine, 36, a pipefitter from South Jordan, is a staunch believer in the concept that less government is better government. He thinks most of the United States' problems stem from too much bureaucracy and regulation.
He would like to see government spending and operations pared to the minimum, with the private sector providing more services.
Modine wants to see some drugs decriminalized or legalized, the costly war on drugs dropped and a freeze on government hiring.
He favors reductions in foreign aid, limits for congressional terms, no more tobacco subsidies and restoration of the rights of gun owners.
Patricia Grogan (SW)
Socialist Workers Party candidate Patricia Grogan, 46, Salt Lake City, works as an operator at Phillips Refinery. Grogan, who has a long history of activism in liberal political causes, is focusing in this election primarily on unifying working people.
Grogan believes workers should organize to demand that working people have a right to jobs.
She wants to institute public-works programs such as the Depression's CCC, with people paid union wages; a national health-care program; bilingual education and full funding for education, including better pay for teachers.
Grogan also wants people to realize that trade wars can become shooting wars unless the people object.