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Former President Jimmy Carter said he will endorse Barack Obama once the polls close in South Dakota and Montana tonight, the Associated Press reports. "The fact is the Obama people already know they have my vote when the polls close tonight," Carter told the AP after a public appearance in Georgia today. Carter joins a veritable flood of party leaders, or superdelegates, who have publicly backed Obama today as the clock ticks down in the final two primaries of the contest. Polls in South Dakota close at 9:00pm, and in Montana at 10:00pm.

Barack Obama may end up losing some of his delegate margin in West Virginia when the results come in tonight but his campaign continues to roll out the superdelegate endorsements today. Indiana Congressman Joe Donnelly and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin endorsed Obama this morning and the campaign held a conference call with former DNC Chair/Colorado Gov. Roy Romer to discuss his decision to back Obama.

“A lot of people in the party are ready to close down the primary and get on with the general election,” Romer told reporters. “This has been a very vigorous primary and Senator Clinton has been a very strong and formidable candidate, and she’s a strong friend … but the math is controlling. This race I believe is over, Senator Obama has accumulated a lead in delegates chosen by primaries, caucuses and superdelegates that cannot be overcome.”

Romer was quick to point out that he was not trying to add any pressure on Clinton to drop out of the race, saying that clearing up the picture of where superdelegates line up serves only to provide her with more information on which to base decisions. “The more clarity we can give, those of who are superdelegates, the sooner we can make it clear, I think it will help her in whatever decision that she will make. But that is a decision she has to make,” Romer said.

Romer’s support is important beyond the superdelegate count because Colorado is potentially a key battleground and Obama won the caucuses there with 62 percent on Super Tuesday. Campaign manager David Plouffe stressed the competitive nature of Western states and said Colorado is a state Obama can win in November.

Rep. Heath Shuler, a Democratic superdelegate, said last night that he will endorse whichever Democratic candidate wins the most votes in his western North Carolina district today.

The Associated Press reported the news, noting that Shuler's rural, conservative district "is comprised primarily of white, working-class voters -- a demographic that has long favored Hillary Rodham Clinton."

More than 488,000 votes have been cast already in North Carolina, where polls close at 7:30 tonight. As we noted in Starting Gate, North Carolinians John and Elizabeth Edwards have declined to endorse a candidate. North Carolina's governor, Mike Easley, is one of the two superdelegates backing Clinton, while six of the state's superdelegates have pledged support to Barack Obama.

Political watchers may be focused on next Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, but those states aren't next in line on the nominating calendar. That designation falls to the territory of Guam, where four delegates are up for grabs in caucuses tomorrow.

And in a tight Democratic nomination battle in which every delegate counts, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are not ignoring the oft-overlooked territory, which is about 20 hours from Washington D.C. by plane but just a few hours from Japan.

Both are engaging in local advertising in an effort to win over the 3,000-plus people expected to caucus in Guam, though neither candidate has campaigned there in person. Clinton, the Wall Street Journal notes, is reminding residents of her many visits to the island in the 1990s, while Obama is referencing his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia.

"I learned firsthand about the unique issues facing Pacific island communities," Obama said in a letter published in the territory's newspapers. He has also said that local contractors should do much of the construction work for US military forces – the island houses a major naval base.

Guam residents are U.S. citizens, but they cannot vote in the general election. Clinton has suggested that needs to be changed.

"Guam deserves equity, rights and privileges that go with voting and equity in certain programs like education and healthcare. We want to work for empowerment and self-determination," she said.

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has an answer for the quandary that has been keeping Democrats up at nights. The race is close enough that it's highly unlikely either candidate will be able to reach the magic number needed to claim the nomination without the support of a significant number of superdelegates – the nearly 800 party leaders and activists who can operate as free agents until the convention.

Leaving the contest open until all the way until Labor Day, however, would result in a lot of frayed nerves without much time to soothe them before the November election. In a New York Times op-ed, Bredesen lays out his thoughts on a "super" primary to settle the matter by the end of June:

Here’s what our party should do: schedule a superdelegate primary. In early June, after the final primaries, the Democratic National Committee should call together our superdelegates in a public caucus.

Of the 795 superdelegates, over 40 percent have not announced which candidate they are supporting; I’m one of them. While it would be comfortable for me to delay making a decision until the convention, the reality is that I’ll have all the information I reasonably need in June, and so will my colleagues across the country.

There will have been more than 20 debates, and more than 28 million Americans will have made their choices and voted. Any remaining uncertainty in our nominee will then lie with the superdelegates, and it will be time for us to make our choices and get on with the business of electing a president.

This is not a proposal for a mini-convention with all the attendant hoopla and sideshows. It is a call for a tight, two-day business-like gathering, whose rules would be devised by the national committee, of the leaders of our party from all over America to resolve a serious problem. There would be a final opportunity for the candidates to make their arguments to these delegates, and then one transparent vote.

In the Democratic primary contest, delegates are king – and super delegates, well, they’re like kings of kings or whatever. The contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could well come down to how those 790 party leaders and bigwigs decide to go. Let’s remember that these are the delegates who can throw their support wherever they want on a whim and can change their minds at a moment’s notice.

The prevailing wisdom seems to be that these super delegates will most likely try to reflect the wishes of their constituents – basically, as their districts and states go, so they go. Currently, the CBS News estimate for super delegates stands at 214 for Clinton and 157 for Obama.

What if the entirety of the election was figured in and these delegates were awarded to the candidate who carried their states? CBS News’ election and survey analyst Jennifer De Pinto goes behind the assumptions and takes a look at just how that might break down at the moment (including those currently uncommitted). Here is what she found:

So far, Obama has won 22 states (plus the Virgin Islands), while Clinton has won 13 (plus American Samoa).

If the super delegates from the 22 states that Obama has won backed him, he would have the support of 297 super delegates.

If the super delegates from the 13 states that Clinton has won cast their vote for her, she would have the support of 253 super delegates (omitting the delegates from Michigan and Florida, currently stuck in limbo due to party rules and infighting).

However, if the super delegates from Michigan and Florida are included in this scenario, she would get the support of another 53 super delegates, bringing her total to 306, with Obama's still at 297.

There are 245 super delegates remaining in the states that have yet to hold nominating events.

Of course, this is analysis based upon what these super delegates might do should they follow the votes in their states. Each and every one of them most likely hope their decisions are much easier by the time the process is ended.