They might as well as declare Monday a holiday for all the attention Americans will be paying to their workaday lives. No sooner will Super Bowl be over, of course, than we transition into Super Tuesday, the smackdown not between football teams but between Hillary and Barack for the Democrats and Mitt and John for the Republicans. Which of these two events will attract the greater attention? You would think football, but actually that's not quite right.

The presidential runners do not have the benefit of pom-pom-whirling cheerleaders or half-time entertainment - don't expect any breast-bearing "wardrobe malfunctions" from any of them - but ABC News has a poll showing that interest in Super Sunday and Super Tuesday are running about equal. In their survey, 40 per cent of Americans said they were most excited about the football versus 37 per cent for the primaries. Break that down, of course, and among those more gripped by the politics are women and Democrats.

The football match could be historic: if the Patriots win they will finish the season undefeated, something not seen in 36 years. But the primaries have claim on history too, with either a woman or an African American hurtling towards the presidency.  (Or so Dems hope.) That Americans are divided over which is more important is another sign that this presidential contest is gripping voters like none before it.