NORTH MANKATO — Vietnam veteran and former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia likes congressional candidate Tim Walz and likes his chances to pull off a surprise victory over six-term incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

Cleland proved that Tuesday with a sunrise-to-sundown day of campaigning across southern Minnesota. Cleland combined praise for Walz with condemnation of the performance of Republicans controlling Washington and mixed in a good dose of humor for the Democratic activists turning out to meet him.

After donning a gold/

orange “Another veteran for Walz” T-shirt, the triple amputee started the day in North Mankato with a self-deprecating joke.

“In the spirit of the occasion, I came dressed as the Great Pumpkin,” said Cleland, who lost his right arm and both legs to an American grenade while heading out on a combat mission in Vietnam.

He was introduced with a heavy emphasis on his status as a war hero, having won the Silver Star for exposing himself to enemy fire while he administered first aid to injured troops and helped get them to safety. But again, Cleland responded with a joke.

“I want all of you to know, I didn’t really get wounded in Vietnam,” he said. “I just went duck hunting with Dick Cheney.”

While he continued to toss in jokes during a 15-minute speech to 50 or so Walz supporters at the 7:30 a.m. event, Cleland was deadly serious when talking about the injured soldiers returning from the Iraq war and the failure of the federal government to provide them with the health care they earned through their military service.

“That’s Vietnam all over again,” Cleland said of the current war. “I’ve been there, and I have a few holes in my T-shirt to prove it. We never wanted to see it again, and that’s what’s tearing me up about this.”

Cleland was harshly critical of the Bush administration, echoing comments he made two years ago when he visited Mankato as part of a months-long effort to help Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. He denounced the “chicken hawks” in the administration who avoided service in Vietnam but were quick to send another generation of young people into war without a strategy for victory or for how to exit.

“You can’t leave the American military out twisting in the wind, and that’s what this president is doing,” Cleland said.

He said too many veterans of the war are being poorly served when they return because the Republican Congress has severely underfunded the Department of Veterans Affairs, which Cleland headed during the Carter administration. Only 28 percent of members of today’s Congress have served in the military, Cleland said.

Walz, who spent more than two decades in the Army National Guard and rose to the rank of command sergeant major, can be counted on to look after veterans, Cleland said.

“Tim is my brother and my friend,” he said. “He’s worn the uniform. He’s dedicated his life to taking care of the troops and educating young people.”

Cleland visited Walz nearly a year ago for a fund-raiser followed by a private visit by the pair to the Minneapolis VA hospital to meet with wounded Iraq war veterans.

“I came here a year ago when he didn’t have a prayer,” Cleland said of Walz. “Now, he’s going to win. ... Tim has become one of the best in the country.”

Cleland is campaigning for several congressional candidates, mostly military veterans running against Republican incumbents, but Walz was thrilled to have him from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. — including events in Waseca, Winona and Austin.

“It means a lot,” Walz said. “... Max believes in me personally. And he believes in Minnesota, that Minnesota will make the right decision.”

Gutknecht campaign spokesman Bryan Anderson said Gutknecht made clear following a trip to Iraq last summer that he believes the war can’t continue on the present course. Gutknecht supports a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops to spur Iraqis to take more control over the nation’s security.

Anderson also said that overall funding for veterans’ health care has increased substantially since Gutknecht was first elected.

“I suppose some would argue that more could be done,” Anderson said. “But Congress has done a good job of taking care of veterans who have been wounded.”