Months of blistering campaign ads, mind-numbing accusations and counteraccusations, nonstop solicitations for campaign contributions, annoying robo-calls and pleas to show up at the polls are finally coming to an end as Susana Martinez and Diane Denish battle down to the last moment to see who becomes the next governor of New Mexico.

While Republican Martinez has maintained a solid lead in independent polls, she's campaigning like she's taking nothing for granted. Meanwhile, Democrat Denish is fighting on as if her motto were, "Damn the polls, full speed ahead!"

One of them will replace Bill Richardson, who cannot seek a third consecutive term.

Both candidates have been crisscrossing the state, appearing in small towns and large.

And both planned weekend stops in Santa Fe. Denish appeared Saturday at a rally at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

She seemed to be concentrating on areas in which Democrats are normally strong. Her fear all along has been that Martinez, being a female Hispanic, would peel off large numbers of Hispanic Democrats. Despite Denish's efforts to paint Martinez as "La Tejana Susana," polls indicate that Martinez has been somewhat successful in making inroads with Hispanics.

Denish's final days of campaigning included a swing with United Farm Workers union leader Dolores Huerta at rallies in Las Cruces, Deming and Bayard. The latter event took place at a symbolic backdrop — the union hall that was the center of a mining strike that inspired the movie Salt of the Earth.

Denish appeared in Santa Fe a week ago with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. She went to Laguna Pueblo and to the Navajo Nation. Aides are hoping a big turnout in Indian Country could offset some of Martinez's lead in the polls.

She had lunch at a senior center in Chamisal, a meet-and-greet with "young professionals" at Scalo Northern Italian Grill in Albuquerque and a tour of small businesses with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine in Albuquerque.

On Friday, Denish's aides said she was feeling "under the weather" and had to skip a planned stop at Coronado Shopping Center in Albuquerque. "I've had a little chest cold and didn't want to get worse," Denish told a reporter Saturday, recalling the high fever she suffered at the end of the 2006 campaign that kept her from attending her own victory party that year. So instead, she sent her two daughters, Sarah and Suzanne Schreiber. At a brief visit to Party City, they chatted with Halloween shoppers and employees, urging them to vote.

Even though her voice was still a little scratchy on Saturday, Denish was back on the road, starting out at a motorcycle rally in Española, heading down to Santa Fe for the Chavez Center rally, followed by a stop in Belen, a matanza in Socorro and a labor event in Albuquerque.

Martinez in the early part of last week also largely stuck to safe territory, rallying supporters in Ruidoso, Carlsbad, Roswell and Raton, among other conservative enclaves.

On Tuesday, she appeared in Hobbs with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — two Southern governors sometimes mentioned as potential presidential candidates — reaching out to Republicans in Denish's hometown.

In Alamogordo, as she got ready for an interview with CNN, Martinez told the camera crew to be careful pinning the microphone on her, because she was carrying a gun.

In that interview, as in others, Martinez has downplayed her lead in the polls. "We have to pretend we are 10 points down. This is still a very Democratic state. We have to earn the votes of Democrats, independents and tea party patriots," she told CNN.

But while she spoke to CNN, Martinez was criticized last week for skipping out on newspaper-endorsement interviews with two weekly alternative newspapers — The Santa Fe Reporter and The Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque. The Reporter said it was the first time the newspaper had ever been snubbed by a candidate for governor.

But if Martinez was playing to her obvious strongholds earlier in the week, by the weekend, the Martinez "Countdown for Bold Change" tour moved north to areas in which Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans. Despite that registration gap, Martinez has found crowds in the north that have been larger and friendlier than most Republican candidates would expect.

Saturday's schedule included a late-morning rally at the Sagebrush Inn in Taos, an afternoon stop at the Cowboy Kitchen in Mora and an evening gathering at El Rialto Restaurant & Lounge in Las Vegas.

Martinez is scheduled to appear at a Santa Fe rally at 3 p.m. today at the Chavez Center. She'll be joined by other Republican contenders, including 3rd District congressional candidate Tom Mullins, attorney general candidate Matt Chandler and area legislative candidates including Brigette Russell (District 47), Bob Walsh (District 48) and Leroy Candaleria (District 50).

As for the grueling pace of the campaign, Martinez told KOB-TV Channel 4 she was sleeping at least four or five hours a night and taking vitamins to keep up with the sometimes 18-hour days.

Negative to the end

Since Martinez won the Republican primary in June, the attack ads have aired with barely a pause. Old-timers have said it's the nastiest campaign in memory, as each candidate has savaged the honesty, integrity and competency of her opponent.

If anyone thought one or both of the candidates would take the high road in the final days, they were dreaming.

Former U.S. marshal for New Mexico Gordon Eden recorded a robo-call for Martinez. In it, he attacks Denish for attending just two of 46 meetings of the New Mexico Border Authority Board. "Now Denish wants you to believe that she's tough on border security," Eden tells anyone who hasn't hung up by then.

Martinez came out with an ad in recent days ripping the "Richardson-Denish" administration, under which, it says, 55,000 jobs were lost, Denish jetted around the state and the two "made pay-to-play a household term."

Denish's most recent robo-call isn't an attack. President Barack Obama urges voters to "stand by me again and pledge your support for Diane Denish." For those still listening, the president offers to connect recipients to a live person who can share information on voting locations.

But Denish's last-minute ads are just as harsh as Martinez's. "When Susana Martinez says she'll favor out-of-state corporations, picture who loses?" a narrator asks. Then he answers: "Children lose quality teachers. Communities lose fire and police protection. Those in need could lose health care ..."