He predicted that a national Democratic wave will surge to California on Tuesday, lifting his campaign to a come-from-behind victory. "We're going to find out at 8:01 (p.m.) on Tuesday that the wave is going to crest here in California," he told enthusiastic supporters at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Schwarzenegger also was appealing to the party faithful on Saturday with north-to-south visits to local Republican headquarters in Chico, Pleasanton and Riverside. He shook hands with volunteers and worked the phones with Republican field workers, encouraging them to knock on doors throughout the weekend. The governor said there were about 75,000 Republican volunteers working on get-out-the-vote efforts statewide.

Nationally, a Pew Research Center poll showed a significant narrowing in the partisan advantage in House races that the Democrats have enjoyed for much of the year, findings that echoed those of a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Saturday showing the Democrats with a six-point edge.

The Pew poll showed that the Democratic advantage had dropped to 47 percent to Republicans' 43 percent among likely voters, down from 50 percent to 39 percent two weeks ago. The poll found a drop in Democratic support among independents, but Pew Director Andrew Kohut said the most significant change over the past two weeks is that Republicans now outnumber Democrats among likely voters. Separately, a USA Today/Gallup Poll showed Democrats leading Republicans by 51 percent to 44 percent among likely voters on the "generic vote". Other weekend polls by Time and Newsweek magazines continued to show Republicans at a steep disadvantage, with Democrats enjoying double-digit margins in party preferences for the House.