From pundits to mainstream media to the candidates themselves, the talk of the 2008 presidential election seems to center on the word “change.”

Change occurred just last night with the New Hampshire primaries. Following Iowa wins for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Republican, many had written off Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as old news. But both Clinton and McCain carried the Granite State last night, with many pundits calling it “an upset.”

With such a thirst for change, it would seem Americans who have taken a more apathetic approach to politics in the past may be casting votes for the first time – or at least the first time in a long time.

That said, there are wrinkles in the political system voters may find interesting, if not confusing – including the difference between a caucus and a primary, and the finer points of the delegate system, with its “superdelegates” and non-committed Republican delegates.

A primary is an election dealing with nominations for public or party office. A presidential primary elects delegates to a presidential nominating convention; indicates preference for a party’s presidential nomination; or determines how all or part of a state’s delegation to a national convention will vote. A primary often does a combination of these things.

State parties that do not choose national convention delegates in binding primaries generally select them by a process that starts with local meetings of party members called “caucuses,” as is the case in Iowa. Caucuses elect delegates to a regional - usually county - convention that, in turn, elects delegates who will meet later to pick the district and at-large delegates to the national convention.

Delegates are men and women chosen in each state, the District of Columbia, and a number of overseas locations to vote at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

The majority of these delegates are chosen in each state by district - usually congressional – and are called “district delegates.” A smaller number from each state are chosen from a statewide pool and are often, though not always, men and women of greater political stature, and are called “at-large delegates.”

Democrats have an additional category of delegates chosen statewide called “add-on delegates,” who are party and elected officials pledged to presidential candidates who earned a share of these delegates in the state’s primary or caucuses.

According to Pat Frank, who has served the Democratic party at county, state and national levels, Oklahoma Democrats also have an additional tier to their delegation.

“[Oklahoma] Democrats have a process to allow for gender equality,” said Frank. “That’s why some delegates represent a specific congressional district, and others are selected at the state level. For instance, if District 2 gets five delegates, it throws the system out of kilter. That discrepancy would be corrected at the state delegate level.”

In the Democrats’ system, all delegates determined by primaries or the caucus process are called “pledged delegates.” All delegates who serve by virtue of party or political office, past or present, are called “unpledged” or “superdelegates,” and include the entire Democratic National Committee, all Democratic members of Congress, and governors of states or territories, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and 21 “distinguished party members.”

Anyone viewing the CNN political Web site following the Iowa caucuses may have been confused about the delegate process, considering Clinton finished third but showed a whopping 169 delegates, while Obama won the state but showed only 66 delegates.

Following last night’s New Hampshire primary, CNN’s site now puts Clinton with 183 delegates: 24 pledged and 159 superdelegates. Obama has garnered 78 delegates: 25 pledged and 53 superdelegates.

Frank herself has served as a superdelegate, and wanted to reassure voters the superdelegates have little effect on the total outcome.