I have a Bush-Cheney ’04 bumper sticker on my car. After seeing the sticker for the first time, my friend Peggy taunted me: “You are going to vote for Bush? I hope you have a job lined up for after college.”

This got me thinking: How good is the job market right now? And which presidential candidate is going to ensure I can get a job when I graduate?

I don’t tend to take things at face value, so I started researching.

After doing some research, I found Peggy was partially right; the current job market is low compared to where it has been in the past.

However, I also found it has been steadily increasing. As 1.5 million jobs were created last year, the unemployment rate dropped nearly an entire percentage point, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a bipartisan advocacy organization representing small and independent businesses, suggests that as much as 80 percent of these new jobs were created by small businesses.

Now, I’m thinking: “Those jobs may not have been there if Sen. John Kerry was in charge over Bush.”

Small business is not a Kerry forte.

In the interim report for 2003, the NFIB discussed several pieces of legislation that it considered important for the success of small business and the creation of jobs, including the Jobs and Growth Act of 2003, which provides tax-relief to small businesses. Last August President Bush signed it into law.

The same bipartisan organization gave Kerry a less-than-satisfactory score for his senate record on supporting small business growth. The NFIB bestowed Kerry with a 25 percent lifetime approval rating for his support of small business on a scale where 70 percent is considered average.

As if his record in the past wasn’t bad enough, in 2003 John Kerry voted against every bill endorsed by the NFIB — bills which have created jobs and stimulated economic growth.

The NFIB went on to say the GOP has been a constant supporter of small business and that the economic growth we have seen in the past year is expected to continue.

All of this evidence leads me to believe that Bush’s economic policy has been fairly successful at digging us out of economic recession.

But what about John Kerry? What about his promises to create a “stronger” economy?

On Kerry’s official Web site he suggests our country should “Invest in the jobs of tomorrow…invest in the people who will fill them… (and) help our workers become competitive and bring back jobs.”

This sounds nice, but Kerry’s record in the Senate seems to contradict his campaign rhetoric.

So after all my research, I have just one thing to say to my dear friend Peggy: “You are going to vote for John Kerry? I hope you have a job lined up for after college.” As for me, I’m leaving the Bush bumper sticker on my car.

Ryan Chapman, Rocky Mountain Collegian, Colorado State University.