Delegate-gate might not be catchy, but scrutinizing the messy process of how Americans elect their leader has become a national—if not global—civics lesson.

Like any lesson, constant review has been necessary to pin down facts more slippery than sardines in an olive-oil factory. Since January, people have been going online posing less-than-philosophical questions such as: "who are the 2008 superdelegates," "what is a superdelegate," "what is a delegate," "how many delegates," "how many delegates does each state have," "how many delegates are left," and "who has the most delegates."

As some grasp (or abandon trying to understand) the various permutations, yet another query pops out of the political vortex: "add-on delegates." An NPR report likely spurred the searches for these unpledged add-on delegates whose breed numbers only 76—but what a difference a delegate could make.

Before getting into these so-called add-ons, the "delegate" searches have been more than academic: For instance, Pennsylvanian Democrats were actually asked to choose delegates. In California, both Democratic candidates rid themselves of deceptive delegates. The Obama camp went on a spree, weeding out 900, only to reverse course later on.

The superdelegate questions haven't been easy to answer, either. According to Wikipedia, the term "superdelegate" technically doesn't even exist under Democratic Party rules. Instead, they're really PLEOs (aka Party Leaders Elected Officials) and make up a fifth of the delegates. The last count had been 794 (a few, like former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, got lost). Not all have been named. Those named may not be allowed to speak under their state rules. Those who can speak but haven't remain under enormous pressure, although their silence may speak volumes.

Add-on delegates are regular Joes with the seeming power of superdelegates. Basically, states boasting the highest voter participation were thrown a bone. Add-ons don't have to be elected—they get the gig on a who-you-know basis (like the party chairman.)

The Democratic Convention site gives an overview of this madness, plus a map showing each state's delegate count. In a twist on the whole delegate scenario, Boing Boing alerted Buzz readers to a cartoon field guide that literally illustrates these proud Americans in all their homespun glory.

Or, you can take the route of one Huffington Post writer: Skip past this delegate process and have it both ways. Whatever the route, the questions will probably continue long past the final contest itself.