BOSTON -- It's down to the wire. In a little more than 24 hours, the polls will be open and voters will decide who the Democratic candidate for governor will be.

The candidates weren't wasting any time in this final push.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Monday is the last day for voters to get absentee ballots. The polls will open Tuesday at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.

All the candidates were working hard over the weekend to get the vote out. The polls showed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick as the front runner. The winner of the race will face Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy, independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross on Nov. 7.

Chris Gabrieli's campaign released the results of its own internal poll showing Gabrieli in a statistical dead heat with Patrick. Gabrieli said he didn't want to talk about polls, he wanted to talk about issues.

"I'm trying to put up actual results I've gotten on after-school programs, in the economy, on investing more in Massachusetts," Gabrieli said.

Patrick has taken a big lead in most polls in the last week. His philosophy in the last weeks before the election revolved around the theme of change.

"Every candidate in the race has a few good ideas, but those ideas aren't going anywhere if we don't change the culture on Beacon Hill and I'm the only one who has experience changing culture in government, in business and in other settings," Patrick said.

Tom Reilly, running third in the polls, said they are irrelevant to him.

"When I ran for attorney general, they took a poll the day of the election and at the end, when the polls closed, they told me I lost by 8. I won by 6," Reilly said.

Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor were also out campaigning, Worcester Mayor Tim Murray and Cape Cod businesswoman Andrea Silbert engaged in a last debate.

"Local Aid is really the lifeblood as to how communities provide local services," Murray said.

"I'm bringing jobs, job creation. So many people can say, 'I'm going to fight for cities and towns,' ... of course I'm going to fight for cities and towns," Silbert said.

The third lieutenant governor candidate, Brookline selectwoman Deb Goldberg, did not participate in the debate. She was busy shaking hands and handing out fliers in Dorchester on Sunday.

"Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!" she called to drivers.

Another Democratic primary race pits incumbent state Secretary William Galvin against challenger John Bonifaz while on the Republican ballot, voters will choose which candidate -- Ken Chase or Kevin Scott -- will get the chance to try and unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.