The reults are in from South Dakota..

... and congrats go to Democrat Stephanie Herseth, who has defeated Republican Larry Diedrich by what looks like a margin of two percent. This means Democrats need to see a net gain of eleven seats this fall to take control of the house.
Here's the spin:

Underscoring just how closely watched the race was, the Republican and Democratic House campaign committees waged media blitzes in South Dakota, pouring $2 million into TV ads in a rural state of just 765,000 people. In March, Vice President Dick Cheney campaigned for Diedrich in South Dakota, which leans heavily Republican. The parties also sent waves of supporters to the state to mobilize voters.

Republicans disputed Democratic claims about an anti-GOP trend. They noted that Herseth began the race with a huge lead, the residue of having run unsuccessfully for the seat in 2002. They also emphasized that Diedrich had managed to close the margin in the polls dramatically in the race's final weeks.

I would hope that if I were in a Republican state, and I had Dick Cheney campaign for me, that I would see some gains in the polls, too. Diedrish said anything less than 5%, and he'd be happy. So they are cheering on both sides, I guess.

It's going to be a long summer in South Dakota, too be sure.

And on an oddly funny note, all those yard signs must come down:

Even though Larry Diedrich and Stephanie Herseth will face each other again in November, supporters in Sioux Falls still have to remove their yard signs now that Tuesday's election is over.

A city ordinance requires that yard signs be taken down within seven days after an election. The signs can be put up again 60 days before the November election.