Democrats' arcane delegate rules

How the Democratic presidential delegates from North Carolina will be divvied up:

134

Total number of delegates the state has, including a bonus of 24 from the national party as a reward for not moving the North Carolina primary ahead in the calendar.

Unlike the Republican primary, the delegates are not awarded under a winner-take-all system but instead by an arcane set of rules.

Because of the complexity of the system for awarding delegates, it may be a while before the final tally is known. The election won't be certified until Tuesday, so a recount in a larger county or a significant number of provisional ballots could mean a slight change in the final delegate count.

115 DELEGATES AT STAKE TODAY

77

Based on the voting percentage in each of the 13 congressional districts. The 4th District has the most with nine; the 3rd District, the least with four. Districts with odd numbers of delegates -- the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 13th -- are more important because even a narrow victory awards one more delegate.

38

Based on the voting percentage statewide.

19 OTHER DELEGATES

17

Superdelegates who cast their vote however they want. Six have committed to Barack Obama: U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield, David Price and Mel Watt; former Democratic Party director Everett Ward; party vice chairwoman Dannie Montgomery and lobbyist Joyce Brayboy. Two have committed to Clinton: Gov. Mike Easley and Charlotte City Councilwoman Susan Burgess. U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler says he will vote for whoever wins his district, which favors Clinton.

2

Elected at the state convention on June 21. State party chairman Jerry Meek, who is neutral, will submit a list of four names. The would-be delegates may or may not publicly state who they will support before the convention vote. In theory, Meek could tilt those delegates to either Clinton or Obama with his choices.