Tom Corbett was welcomed by old friends and Tom Wolf cheered by some newer ones in Pittsburgh on Monday as they scrounged for every last vote, hours before the polls were to open in a gubernatorial election that, one way or another, would make history.

“Boy, is it good to be home,” Mr. Corbett said as he arrived at the Embassy Suites hotel in Moon 13 hours after embarking on a flying tour that began in Allentown and took the governor to seven cities across the state.

He greeted Republican stalwarts just a few hours after his Democratic challenger had appeared at a rally a few miles away in the Steelworkers Building, Downtown.

The rival candidates have many differences, but there was considerable overlap in their messages as both urged supporters to ignore a poll showing Mr. Wolf with a seemingly comfortable lead and be sure to turn out for the balloting that would begin in a few hours.

“We are going to win tomorrow,” Mr. Corbett assured the crowd.

Standing with his wife, Susan, before a banner that proclaimed, “Corbett Cawley — the Lower Taxes Team,” Mr Corbett boasted of a declining state unemployment rate and argued that he had been a better financial steward for the state than his Democratic predecessor had been and his challenger would be.

“He wants to spend more of your money, and more of your money, and more of your money, and there’s only one place he can get that money from you,” he said of his challenger. “The consequence of this election comes down to one word — taxes,” he continued. Mocking the Democrat’s campaign slogan, he asked, “Is it a fresh start, or is it a rerun of [former Gov.] Ed Rendell?”

Mr. Corbett also was accompanied by Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and Sen. Pat Toomey, who predicted that today’s result would produce a GOP majority in the Senate.

Earlier, warming up the crowd gathered in a ballroom at the Embassy Suites Hotel in an airport business park, Rep. Mike Turzai, who is expected to be elected speaker in the next session of the state House, defended the Corbett record and predicted that the incumbent was on his way to a stunning upset.

“On education, do not believe the opponents’ lies,” he said.

Mr. Turzai pointed to the governor’s two victories for attorney general as evidence of a track record of producing upsets.

“People wrote him off in those AG races; people write him off tomorrow,” he said. “He’s going to win.”

State Sen. Kim Ward attributed the incumbent’s political challenges to the actions he took to bridge a revenue gap left by the prior administration.

“He had to make a lot of tough decisions; they weren’t always popular, but they needed to be done,” she said.

“I haven't given up,” she added. “I think this thing is not over.”

Mr. Wolf, too, was intent on making sure his supporters knew that the election was not yet decided.

A little more than a year ago, when Mr. Wolf walked into the United Steelworkers headquarters Downtown after the 2013 Labor Day parade, he was still “Tom Who?” to most rank-and-file union members. In the following spring, almost all of the state’s institutional labor support went to his opponents in the Democratic primary. But Pennsylvania labor knows him now. In an election-eve rally in the lobby of the USW building, cheers for the candidate alternated with warnings against complacence bred by his consistent polling advantage.

“The polls are looking pretty good, but the polls don't matter,” said Mr. Wolf as he urged those in the crowd to make sure they show up at the polls Tuesday.

His words echoed the message conveyed by a half-dozen earlier speakers from Pittsburgh union and Democratic Party hierarchies.

“We can’t lose tomorrow; they can’t beat us unless we don’t show up,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, reminded the crowd that southwestern Pennsylvania had provided the York businessman with early support with a group endorsement in the first week of March by officials including Mr. Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and a litany of other municipal and legislative Democratic officeholders.

USW President Leo Gerard, the Democrat’s host, strictly enforced a one-minute limit on preliminary speeches by a range of officials including Sen. Bob Casey, who predicted that, “Tom Wolf tomorrow, is going to have a victory like the Steelers had last night.”

Mr. Wolf, wearing a blue USW windbreaker, drew cheers from the partisan audience with denunciations of the rule of “the one percent” and the effects of “trickle-down” economics. He also offered a tongue-in-cheek condemnation of politicians who pander to their audiences — immediately before whipping a Terrible Towel from a pocket and twirling it aloft in the approved Steelers fashion.

Mr. Wolf spoke just hours before Mr. Corbett greeted a crowd of his own supporters at an airport motel.

The dueling rallies filled the final hours of a campaign that surpassed records for spending, if not for apparent voter interest.

One way or another, Mr. Corbett was poised to make history today. He will be remembered either for an unprecedented comeback against a persistent polling deficit, or as the first Pennsylvania governor to lose a bid for re-election.

Politics editor James P. O’Toole: jotoole@post-gazette.com.

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First Published: November 3, 2014, 2:04 p.m.
Updated: November 4, 2014, 5:13 a.m.