Five things to watch on Election Day

Mercifully, you likely have watched your last political ad of the season. There’ll be no more robo calls to your phone or flyers in your mailbox. All that’s left to do is to cast your vote on Tuesday, then relish an immediate future free of smothering politics.

After a marathon campaign season that has left America with a nail-biter of an election, here are five things to watch Tuesday as Election 2012 draws to a close:

1.) Which candidate, Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, has the better get-out-the-vote operation in the swing states? This election will be decided by the ground game.

2.) Will Big Money prevail again, or will candidates who are outspent win more often in 2012?

3.) Will the election be decided Tuesday, or will the legions of lawyers and poll watchers sent to key locations leave us with a contested, overtime election?

4.) How will the Tea Party freshmen, the newest member of Congress who took Washington by storm in 2011, fare in their first re-election contests. You can read the Washington Guardian’s series on the Tea Party freshmen here and here and here.

5.) Will the media’s polling and punditry prove accurate, or will this election defy their conventional wisdom?

Come back Wednesday, and we’ll give you the answers.