THE RACE FOR DELEGATES THE RACE FOR DELEGATES USA TODAY's interactive delegate tracker shows where the presidential candidates stand as they seek their party's nomination. WASHINGTON  While Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama wage an intense contest to win the support of "super delegates" who may decide the party's nomination, getting an exact count of those elected officials and party insiders depends on the day of week. Vacancies, deaths, elections and even moving from one state to another can alter the super-delegate rolls. Consider New York. When Eliot Spitzer officially departs as governor Monday, the state will be down one super delegate. His successor, Lt. Gov. David Paterson, is already a super delegate as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), but Paterson will not get two presidential votes. Spitzer and Paterson had announced support for Clinton. All super delegates are free to back whomever they choose at the national convention. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 796 super delegates, said DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton. "On Monday, I'm guessing it will be at 795 again," she said. "It's a floating crap game," Democratic strategist Peter Fenn said of the ever-shifting count. "The rules are so arcane and wacky, you'd have to have a Ph.D. in math and political science to figure it out." Kenneth Curtis, a former two-term Maine governor, has found himself on the short end of the delegate math. Curtis is a Democratic super delegate by virtue of his position as a former DNC chairman. Two years ago, he left Maine and moved to Sarasota, Fla., "for the weather." Now, Curtis is out in the cold because the DNC has stripped Florida — along with Michigan — of all its delegates as punishment for moving its primary earlier. Clinton won the primary Jan. 29. Neither Democrat campaigned in the state, and the candidates and state officials are squabbling over how to count Florida's 211 delegates, which include the state's 26 super delegates. Michigan has 156 delegates, including 28 super delegates. Curtis, a Clinton supporter, said he finds the DNC's sanctions "troubling" and will skip the national convention in Denver if the Florida primary isn't resolved. "Unless my vote counts, I don't think I can go through all the hoopla of a national convention again," said Curtis, 77. In addition, special elections this week that put two new Democrats in Congress also jumbled the count. André Carson, 33, is the nation's newest super delegate. He has to decide which candidate to support. The Indiana Democrat was elected to Congress on Tuesday to fill the House seat of his late grandmother, Julia Carson. Clinton and Obama both called to congratulate him late Tuesday night — and in the weeks leading up to the election, their surrogates pressed for his endorsement, spokeswoman Kyra Jennings said. Jennings said Carson, who will be sworn in to office today, doesn't know when he'll make up his mind. "He's just focused now on getting to Congress," she said. New Illinois Rep. Bill Foster, who was elected Saturday, has made his choice. He supports Obama, his home state senator. Super delegates such as Foster represent roughly one-fifth of all delegates to the party's national convention Aug. 25-28 in Denver. Their ranks include Democratic members of Congress, Democratic governors, more than 400 DNC members and a small cadre of "distinguished party" leaders, such as former presidents and DNC chairmen. Paxton said the super delegate numbers "always fluctuate" because the DNC doesn't have a fixed number of super delegates. There are four more special elections to fill vacated House seats scheduled in the coming months, so the numbers could shift yet again. Few people ever paid close attention to super-delegate counts before this year, Fenn noted. But the presidential race is so close, neither Democrat is likely to secure the nomination without the support of these party insiders. "In the hand-to-hand combat for every single delegate," Fenn said, "these numbers matter." Enlarge By Tom Strattman, AP Andre Carson, 33, is the nation's newest super delegate. The Indiana Democrat was elected to Congress on Tuesday to fill the House seat of his late grandmother, Julia Carson. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.