In the Democratic party you have delegates (the popular vote of the State), and then you have Super Delegates who are allotted a heaping portion of delegates and are Democratic party leaders (members of Congress, democratic governors, and elected members of the Democratic National Committee).  Super Delegates can vote for whomever they choose and are not beholding to the popular vote of his or her state. The total number of Super Delegates in the Democratic Party is 796 and make up about 20 percent of the entire convention. On Feb 5^th , several states delegates will be up for grabs.  For the Republicans, 975 delegates are at stake, and for the Democrats, 1681 delegates are at stake.  The Democratic National Committee awards delegates on a proportional basis, which means that all of the candidates will pick up delegates if they clear the 15% viability threshold.  The Republicans have a combination of proportional and winner-take-all system.  In winner-take-all, if a candidate wins by just one vote he receives all the delegates for that state.  There are 22 Super Tuesday states for the Democrats and 21 for the Republicans.  The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of all its delegates because the Sunshine state moved up its primaries in violation of DNC rules.