There are 26 days to until Election Day. The three candidates vying to represent Virginia's 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives met in Harrisonburg for a wide-ranging forum.

Though they discussed several issues, the nation's struggling economy influenced many of them.

Republican Bob Goodlatte is seeking his ninth term. He's being opposed by Democrat Sam Rasoul and Independent Janice Lee Allen.

The candidates are all calling for that buzzword in Washington: change. From better health care access to energy reform, the nation's economy is going to be a major factor.

Goodlatte says he voted against the recent bailout package because he says it pays the people who caused the problems.

"As a result, I voted against the bailout package. I hope it works because we are all on the line now. But, there was a better way to approach this," says Goodlatte.

Rasoul has been sharply critical of that vote. He says it damages the middle class.

"What we can do is cut taxes for the middle class. That will then, in turn, greatly increase spending," says Rasoul.

The candidates all agreed that greater energy independence would be a boon to the national economy.

"We need no more national debt. I'm really frustrated with the bailout. It should have been a 'No.' We should be bailing us out, the individuals at home," says Allen.

Soaring fuel costs and a slowing economy are creating problems for many of us. Goodlatte pushed for what he's calling an "all of the above" approach to exploring different sources of energy.

"We need to have drilling off shore and in Alaska. We need to extract oil shale from the Rocky Mountain states. We can do it in an environmentally sensitive manner," says Goodlatte.

Goodlatte says it's important not to restore the expired moratoriums on off-shore drilling. Allen says she agrees with Goodlatte's position.

"We need economic self-sufficiency, and we need to look at every energy alternative. And that's it," says Allen.

Rasoul expressed some skepticism of Goodlatte's position. He's pushing for what he calls an energy revolution. He promoted a plan to invest in alternative energy that would create three to five million so-called green collar jobs.

"This legislation that was referred to, that allows us to drill off the coast of Virginia, has three days' worth of oil and five days' worth of natural gas," says Rasoul. "This is not leadership."