Senator Clinton and gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer are expected to win resounding victories in today’s statewide primaries, but there are several fierce races being fought at the local levels that are too close to call.

The most competitive statewide primary — the race to replace Mr. Spitzer as attorney general — appears increasingly likely to go to Andrew Cuomo, who is expanding his lead over challenger Mark Green, a new poll shows.

The Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday found that 50% of Democrats surveyed favored Mr. Cuomo, who served as housing secretary under President Clinton, and 31% favored Mr. Green, who served as the city’s public advocate.

Despite the potentially predictable outcomes at the top of the Democratic ticket, candidates are putting their get-out-the-vote operations in place this morning. Still, turnout is expected to be low.

Candidates are airing last-minute commercials, leaving recorded voicemail messages on answering machines to remind voters to go to the polls, and preparing for post-election parties at locations throughout the city tonight.

In Brooklyn, the four-way race in the 11th congressional district, where Rep. Major Owens is retiring, is coming to a nail-biting finish. The race has attracted widespread attention in part because of the candidacy of a City Council member, David Yassky, who is white, in a district that is nearly 60% black. The three other candidates are Council Member Yvette Clarke, state Senator Carl Andrews, and Christopher Owens, Major Owens’s son.

The vicious Republican contest to challenge Mrs. Clinton will end today when John Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, faces Kathleen Troia McFarland, whose last government job was as a speechwriter in the Reagan administration.

The race for attorney general, which also includes a third candidate, Sean Patrick Maloney, a Manhattan lawyer and one-time aide to Mr. Clinton, has been a tough-fought contest for Messrs. Green and Cuomo.

Mr. Green has spent much time criticizing Mr. Cuomo’s record as housing secretary. Mr. Cuomo, who has the backing of much of the Democratic political establishment and is the son of Governor Cuomo, has opted out of several debates and brushed off Mr. Green as a perpetual candidate and a negative campaigner.

Political analysts say if Mr. Cuomo wins today it will be difficult for him to employ the same front-runner strategy against the Republican candidate, Jeannine Pirro, in the general election.

“I don’t think Andrew can duck Jeannine the way he’s been ducking the debates in the primary,” a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, Douglas Muzzio, said.

Mr. Muzzio said a Cuomo-Pirro general election contest would be more “hardball politics” than “beanbag throwing,” with surrogates attacking the candidates’ ethics and personalities.

Many political analysts have said the Cuomo-Green race will likely end the elected political career of the loser. So there is no doubt that the what-next questions will be raised once the primary returns are in. The two candidates did not campaign yesterday, but they were the only ones to continuing airing their commercials.

Today’s election is expected to end the long-shot gubernatorial bid of Nassau County executive Thomas Suozzi and of anti-war activist Jonathan Tasini, who is running against Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Suozzi — a Democrat who is taking on Mr. Spitzer — did not get much traction with voters despite a platform that focused on reducing property taxes and reining in Medicaid fraud. Mr. Suozzi ultimately raised about $6 million. But that was no match for the roughly $39 million Mr. Spitzer raised. Some said yesterday that if Mr. Suozzi loses Nassau County, it could damage him when goes back to his job as the county’s executive.

A campaign spokeswoman, Kimberly Devlin, noted that Mr. Suozzi won a resounding re-election victory last year.

In Queens, state Senator John Sabini, who was first elected in 2002, is facing a tough race for re-election against a Democratic challenger, Council Member Hiram Monserrate. The district includes parts of Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst, and Woodside and is one of the most diverse in the city.

State Senator Martin Connor, an election lawyer, is also locked in a tough race. Mr. Connor, who represents Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, faces Ken Diamondstone, a developer and community activist who has waged a hardscrabble campaign.

In Flushing, a three-way Democratic primary for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Jimmy Meng has been fierce. The candidates include a one-time council member, Julia Harrison, a former aide to Council Member John Liu, Ellen Young, and a community activist, Terrence Park.

The polls will be open between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The U.S. attorneys for the southern and eastern districts, Michael Garcia and Roslynn Mauskopf, have set up telephone lines to report election law violations. Those numbers are 212-637-2987 and 718-254-7000.