USA presidential nominations: How delegates are selected

Nominations have been won and lost when presidential candidates have lost sight of the fact that the ultimate goal is getting 2,408 delegates to vote for you at the Democratic convention and 1,237 delegates to vote for you at the Republican convention.

According to a new poll, almost one in three Trump supporters in SC supports banning gay people from entering the United States.

These rules have had an impact on more than one Democratic race for the nomination.

What's so "Super" about Super Tuesday? Iowa, which votes first in the presidential race, has been criticized for not being representative of the American electorate.

Trump has made small TV ad buys around the state. Dedicated candidates with few resources - such as Rick Santorum in 2012 - have been known to excel there. With each outrageous campaign pledge - e.g. building a giant wall along the border with Mexico to deal with illegal immigration, implementing a moratorium on Muslims entering the country - rather than cause his campaign to lose support, his numbers have increased.

This obviously isn't how real voting works, and the results tended to clump around statistical averages that might not come into play during the actual election. The kinds of intolerance that are being propagated now through the Republican party are not those of the majority, no more than they are here, but the a minority of the population does believe them and until they are afforded an opportunity to be educated otherwise this will never change. Meanwhile, Alaska and Minnesota will hold caucuses. That, plus the state's proximity to Washington's establishment Democrats, give Hillary Clinton an advantage.

The caucuses are only open to registered Republicans and Democrats. Republican candidates will be competing for 50 delegates in the state. Again, assume Trump gets 30 percent, which makes for 30 more delegates.

For Republicans, there will not be any delegates awarded next Tuesday. So far, the Republicans have allocated only six percent of their delegates to their convention, and the Democrats have allocated only four percent.

There are 49 delegates at stake in Virginia in the Republican primary and 95 delegates at stake in the Democratic primary. Democratic candidates instead go out west to Nevada, where more non-white voters turn out to the polls and voters are more moderate than the first two contests.

What are the states to watch?

Democrats have a two-step process in choosing their delegates. A loss to Donald Trump in his back yard would cripple his campaign.

Massachusetts: Moderate voters here could blunt Mr. Trump's momentum.

Typically, only about two to three percent of either party attends the caucuses, another argument for a primary. She has been historically strong here and statistics suggest that and Clinton even beat President Obama eight years ago on Super Tuesday. The demographics of SC are similar to a number of the Super Tuesday states where Cruz was expected to perform well, suggesting he will struggle there, too. This year, the result will not be as clear cut.

Most of the states involved will be awarding delegates to the national convention, which theoretically chooses that party's presidential candidate. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. If any delegate bound by these rules, state party rule or state law to vote for a residential candidate at the national convention demonstrates support under Rule 40 for any person other than the candidate to whom he or she is bound, such support shall not be recognized.