Third district congressional race

At a Wednesday news conference, DFL 3rd District congressional candidate Ashwin Madia, pledging to push a positive message on the economy and steer clear of negative attacks, said he would have voted for the bailout bill the U.S. House of Representatives rejected Monday — if inaction were the alternative. But he added that any bailout must include both guaranteed relief for middle-class homeowners facing foreclosure and oversight from outside the U.S. Department of Treasury. He also called a new line of attack by allies of Republican state Sen. Erik Paulsen’s campaign — focusing on Madia as an unmarried non-homeowner uninvolved in youth soccer — “bizarre.”