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The farm, renowned locally for its donuts and cider, is in Saratoga County, the 62nd and last county Mr. Cuomo has visited on his campaign tour.
A few hundred party activists and locals had gathered under the rafters of the farm’s big warehouse, waiting for the candidate to make his entrance, listening to the warmup acts: local party leaders, legislative candidates and congressmen.
Then, at 12:16 p.m., an opening appeared in a curtain behind the stage, and Mr. Cuomo came out to enthusiastic applause.
He deployed a flurry of gestures — a veritable field guide of political signals — the thumbs up, the victory sign, the wave, the wink, the blown kiss. He seemed at ease, perhaps no surprise after Saturday morning brought yet another poll showing him leading comfortably.
While Mr. Cuomo’s running mate, Robert J. Duffy, was speaking, Richard Horstman, an 83-year-old retired carpenter, handed Mr. Cuomo a union mailer, seeking his autograph. Mr. Cuomo obliged.
“I’m going to give it to my grandchildren,” said Mr. Horstman later, wearing a denim jacket over a Buffalo Bills sweatshirt. “I’ve been around a long time, I’ve seen them all come and go, but he’s done a nice job, boy.”
Mr. Cuomo, wearing a dark suit and a red tie covered with tiny giraffes, was reflective and combative on the stage.
“This is special for me,” he told the crowd. “Saratoga is the last county in the state that I will have visited during this gubernatorial campaign.”
He added: “I saved the best for last.”
Throughout the visit, there seemed a sense of destiny, that Mr. Cuomo was about to seize a job held for a dozen years by his father, Mario M. Cuomo.
“What people say about my father is that he was all about principle and integrity, and it’s telling, because this is a relatively recent phenomenon where you have a state government with this level of corruption,” Mr. Cuomo said after his speech. “We had a great state government for a lot of years. And Mario Cuomo, 12 years — you could agree with him, disagree with him — 12 years of principle and integrity, and that’s the foundation of everything.”
He never spoke the name of his opponent, the Republican, Carl P. Paladino. Later, when asked why, he lightly told reporters: “Did you know who I was talking about? Then I effectively communicated.”
Before the crowd, he seemed to relish in Mr. Paladino’s gaffes: “I’ll tell you the simple truth. The more they talk, the better we look,” he said, and after applause died down, added, “You could not make this stuff up.”
“I wanted to have my commercials be them talking,” he continued, smiling, the laughter in the audience building. “Every day they outdo themselves.”
People here take government more personally than in other parts of the state, chiefly because Saratoga County neighbors Albany County and is home to many government employees.
“He’s going to win, no doubt about it,” said Susan Peluso, a 58-year-old teacher from Mechanicville, who was carrying a framed and yellowed 24-year-old newspaper picture of Mario Cuomo holding her daughter, who was wearing a “Kids for Cuomo” T-shirt.
Chuck Mielcarski, a 70-year-old retired teacher, said: “I voted for Spitzer last time, and I was very disappointed. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed this time.”
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