Different Delegate totals - Emily Carlson

Ask MSNBC, and they'll tell you Barak Obama has more delegates.

Over at Politico.com, Sen. Hillary Clinton is winning the delegate race.

And The New York Times says Clinton has more than one hundred fifty more delegates than Obama.

Welcome to the confusing world of the Democratic nominating process. While the process has always been mind boggling, this year, the stakes are high and the audience is large. While media outlets try to break down the process, viewers sit at home frustrated, trying to understand how the delegate counts can be so different.

Depending on who you ask, Hillary is ahead 1,000 to 902, or 912 to 741. MSNBC has Barak leading the delegate count by 4. The variables in coming up with a total number of delegates are many. The first is primaries vs. caucuses. In most cases, primaries are binding, but caucuses are not. A caucus is just the first step in the political process where delegates are chosen. Those delegates do not have to pick their presidental candidate until the national convention, so some media outlets do not count that state's delegates in their numbers.

Then there are superdelegates, who can support which ever candidate they prefer. Superdelegates are made up of elected officials and party leaders. There are 796 superdelegates across the country, and as of Friday, only 303 have publicly supported a candidate. The superdelegates can change their mind at any time, therefore some media outlets are not counting their votes just yet either.

And don't forget the states whose primaries don't even count. Florida and Michigan were punished by the Democratic National Committee for moving their primary dates up. They still held the primary, but their delegates won't count at the convention.

Lots of different delegate totals, yes. Confusing, yes. Important, YES! There is just not sure way to calculate those delegate totals right now. It's neck and neck. Clinton and Obama will duke it out all the way to the National Convention. Let's not jump the gun, and let's REALLY not get wrapped up in the specifics of the delegate total right now. The numbers will most certainly change. This could be the tightest race for the Democratic nomination of all time. It's going to be a LONG time before the numbers will declare a winner.