If you’re ready to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking the election will be over after tomorrow, don’t get too comfortable just yet.

Some Georgia political observers have raised the possibility that the gubernatorial race may come down to a runoff.

“The possibility looms that Georgians will have to endure a four-week runoff campaign before they finally determine the winner of the governor’s race,” Georgia Report Editor Tom Crawford wrote in his syndicated column that ran in The Times last week. “While Nathan Deal has been the leader over Roy Barnes in every poll released since the primaries, he has fallen short of the 50 percent level required by state law to win a general election.”

The race could even be closer than some polls speculate. Throw on top of this a third-party Libertarian candidate for governor, and it’s quite possible that neither Democrat Barnes nor Republican Deal will have the necessary 50 percent needed to become governor.

Runoffs are not uncommon in Georgia politics, but they usually occur during the primaries, not the general election. Deal knows runoffs. He faced a nasty primary runoff against Karen Handel this summer for the GOP spot in the governor’s race.

Yet, the Deal-Handel runoff was nowhere near as negative and as bitter as the campaign between Barnes and Deal. They have slung so much mud during the past few months, Georgia could use a good pressure washing.

And that could be why we’re staring down the barrel of a few more weeks of campaigning.

Many Georgians have become so tired of the negative ads, or the ads have called both candidates’ credibility into such question, that Crawford and others speculate some voters may lean Libertarian in protest.

There’s a sad irony here. If Georgia does face a gubernatorial runoff between Barnes and Deal, don’t look for either candidate on the high road. The campaigning will likely sink even lower.