• Who’s ahead in delegates?

According to The Associated Press, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has 261 delegates and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has 190. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain of Arizona has the most delegates, 93, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 77, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 40, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, 4.

• Are delegates bound to support the candidate they pledged to support once they reach the party conventions?

Again, the rules vary. On the Republican side, some states require delegates to stick by a candidate for a certain number of ballots. Others don’t. On the Democratic side, despite the use of the term “pledged delegates,” in reality they are not required to support a particular candidate once they reach the convention, although they are expected to do so.

• Will Tuesday’s vote settle the two nominating fights?

Depending on the outcome, Super Tuesday could give McCain a big boost toward securing the GOP nomination. Polls show him running ahead of Romney in some big winner-take-all states, which could significantly pad McCain’s delegate count and lengthen the odds that Romney can overtake him.

For Democrats, it is hard to envision anything other than a continued fight between Clinton and Obama. The proportional allocation of delegates and the fact both are waging well-financed, competitive campaigns suggests each will walk away Tuesday claiming a victory of some sort. That gives both a strong incentive to press on as the race heads into Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia for next week’s contests on “Chesapeake Tuesday.”