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• Varilek, a 37-year-old former congressional staffer, had criticized Noem during their final debate on Friday for the tone of her ads, including one that depicts him as a monster beheading people. He also planned an election night party with a pointed reference to another one of her ads. The ad had praised Noem for working for farmers while criticizing Varilek for hosting "a raucous National Corndog Day party in his swanky D.C. neighborhood, serving more than 1,000 corn dogs, 1,200 beers and a 150-pound ice luge for consuming shots of Jagermeister."
• Varilek said corn dogs would be served when his supporters gathered in Sioux Falls on Tuesday evening to await returns.
• Linda Burchill, a 60-year-old Pierre resident who works in a coffee shop, said she doubted Varilek's last-minute change of tone would affect the race.
• "It's too late to change it in the last two days," Burchill said Monday. "People already know how they're voting."
• Elizabeth Smith, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota, said she suspected Noem would win because most House incumbents win re-election. But she said Varilek has run an aggressive campaign, and a lack of independent polling makes the race hard to predict.
• "It's anyone's guess," she said.
• South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant predicted about 70 percent of the state's registered voters would cast ballots, down slightly from the 73 percent voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election. Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time.
• Some voters received incorrect information about polling places. South Dakota Democratic Party Chairman Ben Nesselhuf said a political action committee set up by the party sent mailings to tens of thousands of Democrats and independents expected to support Democrats, and about 5 percent listed incorrect polling places. Nesselhuf said the party was calling those voters to give them correct information.
• Along with the state's lone U.S. representative, voters were choosing state lawmakers and two members of the Public Utilities Commission, a three-member panel that regulates electric, natural gas and telephone utilities.
• They also were deciding on several ballot issues, including Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard's plan for merit pay for teachers and proposed state constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.
• Still, the House race drew the lion's share of attention this election year.
• Varilek hammered Noem for missing many House committee meetings and failing to get a farm bill passed before Congress recessed for the election. He also accused her of supporting Republican plans that he said would wreck Medicare, the

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