Okay, first things first. The Giants beat the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. Unbelievable. Unscripted, unpredictable, but mostly, unbelievable! This is why we root for our teams and watch sports. Hollywood could not have written a better script, particularly the last act where the Giants come from behind to win in the last minute. I’ve been a New York Giants fan for over 40 years and I did not see this one coming. That’s the beauty of life-you never know what’s around the corner and this time it was pure joy-the joy of winning.

Well, now that we are done with Super Sunday, we’re ready to move on to Super Tuesday. So what is Super Tuesday? And how does it compare to Mindblowing Monday or Fantastic Wednesday? This year Super Tuesday will be on February 5, when 23 states including California will hold their primary elections. It’s the day when the most nominating delegates can be won by a candidate. This year, several states moved their primaries forward as so as not to be an “afterthought” as California Governor Arnold “The Terminator” Schwarzenegger put it.

So people are wondering, why are we having so many of these primaries so early in the year, why so many at once and how can a shrimp be called jumbo? In 1988, South Dakota, which had conducted its primary in June, moved it to February 23, one week after the New Hampshire primary. Then another 16 states moved their primaries to March 8, creating what we now call Super Tuesday.

2008 is the first election without a sitting president or vice president on the ballot since 1952. And that’s a shame, because Dick Cheney would have had my vote. There have been eight presidential elections like this in the past, and the GOP has won all of them. I believe this streak, along with the Boston Celtics not making the NBA playoffs, is about to end. When Ronnie Reagan was first elected at age 69, he was the oldest person ever to win the presidency. If elected in November, John McCain would surpass him at age 72. Thank goodness he thinks we can still win the war in Iraq.

So where did the terms “red state” and “blue state” come from? These terms entered the vernacular during the 2000 election, when Democrat Al Gore’s campaign used a blue color scheme and Republican George W. Bush’s campaign used red. Many electronic media organizations, including Comedy Central, then followed the color scheme in their graphics. Now if you combine the colors red and blue do you know what you get? I know George Bush doesn’t.

So how do the candidates come up with all this cake to finance their campaigns? They receive funds from a variety of sources, including donations, political action committees, political parties and sometimes the candidate themselves. For example, of the 62.9 million raised by Mitt Romney, $17.4 million, or 27 percent, was from his personal fortune. The top Democratic and GOP fundraisers, Hillary Clinton and Romney, have raised about $1.7 million and $1.2 million per week, while spending $778,000 and $1 million weekly. Just to give you an idea of the levels of money being raised in this race, Republican Ron Paul raised $4.2 million on the Internet in one day in November. Wow. How? And why two first names?

So why are the general elections held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November? Early in its history, the United States was mostly a rural society. A November date is after the harvest but before the really serious winter weather sets in, so it was the easiest time for farmers and rural workers to get to the polls. Tuesday was chosen so the rural population could attend church on Sunday and then have the time to travel what could be great distances to the polls in time to vote. Lawmakers did not want election day to fall on the first of November because Nov. 1 is Archie Manning’s favorite day, All Saints Day, when Roman Catholics attend Mass, and merchants typically balance the accounts and and pay protection money from the previous month.

Since 1900, California has chosen the Republican candidate 15 times and the Democratic candidate 12 times. In all but four of the elections. the candidate who polled the most votes in the state was elected president. Only three times in American history has the winner of the popular vote in November lost the election, the last being in 2000 when 270 electoral votes were required to win. Bush earned 50,456,002 popular votes and 271 electoral votes. Al Gore won 50,999,897 but only 266 electoral votes. Thanks to election officials in the Sunshine State of state of Florida and the less than Supreme Court, this day is now known as Black Tuesday.

And finally, the heritage of all 42 presidents is limited to these seven nationalities: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss and German. If Barack Obama is elected, Kenyan will be added to the list. That would have been my guess for heritage number eight. Well, either that or Swedish, Ethiopian or wherever Eli Manning hails from.

Today’s photo platter features a Lighthouse Point sunrise from last Tuesday morning. Not a bad way to kickoff the day. So I hope you enjoyed Super Sunday and learned a little bit today about how our election process works. And speaking of super, birthday wishes go out tomorrow to my Garden State bred cohort Nancy Mager, who is truly a special friend, knows what baked ziti is all about and I believe still has a thing for Bucky Dent. Her future is definitely ahead of her.

So as I bathe in the afterglow of the Giant’s improbable Super Bowl win, my wish is that everyone out there can feel this kind of joy. This feeling certainly doesn’t have to come from sports but it’s an emotion that does the soul wonders. It was heartwarming to see my son so happy-I hadn’t seen him that excited since he found out he didn’t have to read a long Torah portion for his bar mitzvah. As Pete Rose once said, “Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose…let the other guy lose.” Thank you, Charlie Hustle. And thanks to everyone reading this blog. Enjoy the day, enjoy the colors in the sky and be thankful for the simple things-like covering the spread. Giants win. Unbelievable. Savor the feeling, Giants fans.