• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota voters chose Republicans at the top of the ballot Tuesday in the apparent hope that a new president working with congressional Republicans could jump start the nation's economy.
• Republican Rep. Kristi Noem won election to a second term as South Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House, surviving an aggressive challenge from Democrat Matt Varilek. Mitt Romney won South Dakota's three electoral votes, defeating President Barack Obama, to continue the GOP's domination of presidential politics in the heavily Republican state. Obama, however, won the nation.
• Voters said they believed Romney would do a better job of reviving the economy than Obama has.
• "I think the man's a businessman. He knows how to do things," said Dennis Nelson, a 56-year-old truck driver from Philip.
• "I think he'll get better control of the spending issues in Washington than Obama could," agreed Chad Hank, 39, an insurance office manager from Tea.
• Neither Romney nor Democratic President Barack Obama campaigned in Republican-leaning South Dakota, as both sides focused their efforts on competitive states with more electoral votes. No Democratic presidential candidate has carried South Dakota since 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson prevailed over Republican Barry Goldwater.
• The economy also dominated the race between Noem and Varilek
• Noem, a 40-year-old farmer and former state lawmaker, accused Varilek of supporting tax increases on middle-class families and small businesses and backing the health care overhaul she contends will increase costs instead of reducing them.
• Varilek, a 37-year-old former congressional staffer, accused Noem of supporting Republican plans that he said would wreck Medicare, the health care program for retirees, and give tax breaks to the wealthy.
• Tim Rabb, a 53-year-old chiropractor from Sioux Falls said he voted for Noem because she believes in smaller government. He also was leery of Varilek's experience as a congressional staffer.
• "He's been in government all his life, so he doesn't have much business experience. Kristi Noem does," Rabb said.
• "The repeal of Obamacare is important," Rabb added.

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