NEW ULM — Republican Randy Demmer worked to motivate his supporters at a German cafe on Saturday, telling them he’s within reach of unseating Democratic Rep. Tim Walz in an increasingly heated race marked nationally as a possible GOP upset.

Walz is considered Minnesota’s most vulnerable incumbent in a swing district that has fired incumbents when the national mood has shifted. The candidates have attacked each other in TV ads for weeks. Demmer’s final spot accuses Walz of lying about his position on federal spending after Walz’s last ad said he wouldn’t spend money the country doesn’t have.

Demmer mingled with Republican activists before urging them to do all they can to get like-minded voters to the polls on Tuesday. The state legislator from Hayfield ticked off Walz’s votes for the health care overhaul, economic stimulus and climate change legislation as evidence that the two-term representative is too liberal for the district.

“That’s why Congressman Walz should be fired,” Demmer said at the Ulmer Cafe before climbing into an RV with his wife and parents as they tour the 1st District’s 22 counties from west to east.

Walz had campaign stops in Rochester and Mankato on Saturday as he presses voters to keep him in a seat he took from a Republican in a Democratic wave four years ago. The national parties and other outside groups have spent more than $1 million on the race, about two-thirds of it going to defeat Walz.

Outside of southern Minnesota, congressional candidates were making their last push for votes.

In Woodbury, Democrat Tarryl Clark stirred up volunteers with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, telling them a victory would show that Minnesotans reject Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s style of politics. Clark and Bachmann are in a high-dollar race for a district that stretches north and west from the Twin Cities suburbs to St. Cloud.

Bachmann was campaigning in Andover and Anoka, but her big event was an afternoon affair in Blaine featuring Republican gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer with GOP Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Haley Barbour of Mississippi. Bachmann and Clark’s last debate is Sunday.