President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney made Columbus one of their precious few last stops on the eve of Election Day, trying to close the deal with voters and win Ohio and its crucial 18 electoral votes.

The candidates raced through Ohio’s big cities, small towns and suburbs over the last several days, urging supporters to get to the polls. Just in the last four days, the candidates, their running mates and their wives made 16 appearances in Ohio.

And they brought out their star supporters too: Jay-Z, Bruce Springsteen, Jason Mraz, Stevie Wonder and others for Obama and The Marshall Tucker Band, Rodney Atkins and Kid Rock for Romney.

A last-minute Ohio Poll found Obama leading 50 percent to Mitt Romney’s 48.5 percent among likely voters in the Buckeye state and that edge is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent. The poll also reported that Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown leads Republican challenger Josh Mandel 50.6 percent to 46.8 percent in the U.S. Senate race.

Romney arrived in Columbus in style when his jet nosed into an airplane hangar as supporters cheered wildly. A crowd of 10,000 heard his 25-minute speech at Landmark Aviation at Port Columbus International Airport while about 2,000 stood outside in an overflow area, according to the Columbus fire marshal.

“Change can’t be measured in speeches. It is measured in results. Four years ago, candidate Obama promised to do so much but he has fallen short,” Romney said. He accused the president of driving up the national debt, getting sidetracked with a partisan agenda and hurting job creation with burdensome government regulations, taxes and health care reform.

Romney said he built a business, helped turn around the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and revamped other businesses. “That’s why I’m running for president. I can get real change to get the nation growing again. Achieving real change is not something I just talk about. It’s something I have done,” he said.

Romney also announced last minute rallies in Cleveland and Pittsburgh for today.

Obama warned a crowd of 15,500 at Nationwide Area that Romney’s “change” is really a package of old Republican ideas that don’t work. Springsteen and Jay-Z opened for the president. The Boss sang a song he said he wrote just for the president. and Jay-Z shook the arena with beats from a few of his hits.

Jay-Z, the rapper, media mogul and part-owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, said he wasn’t allowed to swear on stage so, he joked, he only brought two songs. He played more than two, and modified the lyrics of one, singing “I’ve got 99 problems but Mitt ain’t one” while hundreds waved American flags.

Obama used his last Ohio appearance to give an abridged version of his presidency and make the case for another four years in a 25-minute speech. He tried to appeal to those on the fence, even though the crowd’s cheers for early voting indicated most already had cast their ballots for the president.

“Ohio, after four years you know me by now,” said Obama, who has visited Ohio 22 times in 2012. “You may not agree with every decision I’ve made, but that’s OK because Michelle doesn’t either. You may be frustrated sometimes at the pace of change, but so am I.”

Obama said “the status quo” of gridlocked Congress is to blame for slow change and his opponents want voters to get worn down and fed up so they’ll give up.

“In other words, their bet is on cynicism,” Obama said. “Ohio, my bet’s on you. My hope is with you. My fight is for you.”

Obama pledged bipartisanship, noting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed and taxes were cut because Republicans voted for them.

“I will work with anybody from any party to move this country forward,” Obama said. “And if you want to end the gridlock in Congress, vote for leaders like Sherrod Brown who will put Americans first, not elections first.”

Analysts are expecting a razor-tight finish where the final result may not be immediately known.

“I suspect it is going to be a very long night,” said Ohio State University political scientist professor Paul Beck. The margin of victory among absentee and regular ballots may be exceeded by the number of provisional ballots, which by law are not counted until Nov. 17. “Going forward, we may not know for 10 days. I hope that doesn’t happen,” Beck said.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said he believes Romney will eek out a victory and win Ohio.

“My gut is he has got the momentum but we’ll see,” said DeWine, a Republican from Cedarville.

He added that his staff is ready to respond to last minute lawsuits and legal issues on Election Day. The attorney general represents Secretary of State Jon Husted.

DeWine said the margin could be so close that America may have to wait until Ohio counts its provisional ballots starting Nov. 17. He also conceded that results that close may trigger legal wranglings from each campaign and interest groups.

“We have to wait and see. We will not initiate it but we’ll respond, the secretary of state will respond (to lawsuits,)” DeWine said.