Third Congressional District candidate Ashwin Madia spoke to the Minnesota delegation at this morning’s breakfast. The 30-year-old lawyer and Iraq war veteran stressed a message of fiscal discipline, change in Washington and American ingenuity. “I’m running for the U.S. Congress because I think we have the greatest country in the entire world and I think that we can do so much better than what we’ve been doing in the last eight years,” he told the crowd. ”Sometimes it’s easy to forget what a great nation we have and what we’re capable of when we come together as Americans and when we have leaders that inspire us to move forward as one.”

Madia argued that economic issues will define campaigns across the country, noting that the U.S. is facing a $9-trillion deficit, rising unemployment and spiraling inflation. He also stated that Republicans, including his opponent Erik Paulsen, are offering no new solutions to jumpstart the economy. “What they’re saying is more of the same,” Madia charged. ”More reckless tax cuts, more deficit spending, more debt and more war.”

Madia also criticized the Republicans for failing to address the nation’s energy problems. “We’ve had a three-part energy strategy in this country over the last seven years and it’s gone like this: buy more oil, buy more oil and buy more oil,” he said. ”We can do so much better than that. We have the most innovative people on the face of the planet here. We just need the courage to change.”