• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Republican Rep. Kristi Noem and Democratic challenger Matt Varilek seem to be fighting for more than South Dakota's lone U.S. House seat. They're seeking to outdo each other in a battle to claim the title as the true South Dakotan in the race.
• Noem tells voters she's one of them, having lived her entire life in South Dakota, working on the family farm and running small businesses until she was elected to Congress two years ago. Her take on Varilek? Those two degrees from British universities proves he's not one of us.
• Varilek argues that he understands middle-class South Dakotans because he grew up in a low-income household, worked his way through college flipping burgers and toiling on farms, and learned much while working for several U.S. senators. He has hammered Noem for missing many House committee meetings and failing to get a farm bill passed.
• On Tuesday, voters will decide which candidate's background will best represent their needs in Washington, D.C., in a race that has grown increasingly competitive in recent weeks.
• Noem enjoys an advantage as a Republican in a state where registered GOP voters far outnumber Democrats, and she has raised about three times as much campaign money as Varilek has. But Varilek has fought back with campaign ads that some say are working to undermine Noem's footing.
• Bob Burns, a retired political science professor at South Dakota State University, said a Varilek win would be an upset -- "it's an uphill battle to win a statewide race as a Democrat in South Dakota in modern times," he said -- but the race could be close because Varilek has run a good campaign that has put Noem on the defensive.
• In that battle, Noem and Varilek have spent a lot of time arguing about whose background best qualifies them to help decide what direction the nation takes on taxes, Medicare and farm policy.
• Noem cut short her college career to return to her family's farm and ranch after her father died in 1994, but finally graduated this year with a bachelor's degree in political science from South Dakota State University. She still lives on part of the family ranch near Castlewood with her husband and three children, and over the

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