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"We are an exceptional place to invest, compared to the rest of the world."
The blame-game is a tricky war to wage, Rayman said.
"Any self-respecting Democrat is going to say, 'Well, we had the glory years under Clinton. We cut the deficit down to nothing. We had almost no inflation, low unemployment, blah, blah, blah.' And of course any Republican would say that the only reason for that was because of the policies that were set up before Clinton came to office," Rayman said.
Neither side has much faith in the other's economic plan.
"To pay for his nearly $2 trillion plan, Kerry's going to have to raise taxes across the board, which means a middle class tax hike," Banducci said.
But Megan Green, Penn State College Democrats president, said that much of the extra money would come from scrapping existing programs Kerry thinks are particularly wasteful.
Kerry may cut the national missile defense system's $8.3 billion budget.
"In every administration there are wasteful programs like those and it's up to the next administration to eliminate them," Green said.
Bush has repeated that his economic package is working and cites the 96,000 new jobs that were created in September as evidence of a recovering economy.
If elected for a second term, Bush said he would keep the existing tax cuts for the wealthy. He added that the repeal of those cuts would raise taxes for nearly one million small-business owners.
Kerry's long voting Senate record on economic issues has been both attacked by Bush and paraded by Democrats.
Bush has accused Kerry, for example, of voting to raise taxes 98 times in 20 years.
In 1996, Kerry voted for a bill that raised the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 per hour. If elected, Kerry pledges to raise the minimum wage to $7.00 per hour by 2007.
Bush said he would study all minimum wage initiatives in Congress, but has taken no stand on the issue.
Kerry and Bush have also haggled over outsourcing, a highly charged issue in states like Ohio, which been exceptionally hard hit.
Kerry has said outsourcing is sometimes unavoidable. However, he plans to remove the tax loopholes that encourage companies to outsource. He also wants to create a one-year, one-time tax holiday during which companies that have been keeping profits abroad can reinvest them here with minimal taxes.
Bush has been less aggressive against outsourcing.
"As unpopular as it might be to say in blue-collar areas," Banducci said, "you're not going to be able to stop outsourcing. And even if you could, you would not want to; it is economically efficient. That's basic economics."
Bush plans to extend access to higher education so unemployed Americans can find better, and more available jobs. He has committed $500 million to his Jobs for the 21st Century initiative and $23 billion for job training and employment assistance.
Both Bush and Kerry plan to cut the deficit. Neither side, however, seems to think the other capable of such a feat.
Banducci is not sure they should want to.
"I think it's more important to win the war on terror than balance the budget," he said.
Rayman said Penn State students are having a particularly hard time right now, but said this presidential decision extends far beyond the limits of the economy.
"I don't think that you pick a politician based only on what he's going to do for you in terms of jobs," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Emphasizes higher education and job training for those losing jobs due to outsourcing.
