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While the state Democratic Party still searches for a winner of its Super Tuesday caucus, it could be New Mexico's handful of "superdelegates" who play the bigger role in picking the party's nominee.

Political experts across the country believe the tight nationwide race between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be determined by the hand-picked party leaders known as superdelegates.

That means a lot of attention will be focused on 12 New Mexicans.

"I do not feel an elevated sense of importance. I've been to the top of that mountain," said Raymond Sanchez, the former New Mexico House Speaker who has pledged his superdelegate vote to Clinton. "This is fun, this is exciting. The superdelegates could — not will, but could — possibly play a significant role if it goes all the way to the convention."

New Mexico carries 38 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August. Of those, 26 delegates were up for grabs in Tuesday's caucus, to be split between Obama and Clinton based upon the voting results. The exact split won't be determined until provisional ballots are counted, but it appears from party guidelines that delegates will be divided almost evenly.

The remaining 12 are considered unpledged superdelegates — positions assigned to various party leaders and elected officials who are allowed to vote as they please at the convention, regardless of the caucus outcome.

Eleven of the superdelegates are appointed automatically, based upon their elected positions or because they're on the Democratic National Committee. A 12th add-on superdelegate will be nominated by the state party chair April 26.

Of the 11 known superdelegates, five have pledged their votes for Clinton, one for Obama and four are uncommitted — though any of them can change at any time.

Because Clinton is leading by just 100 delegates nationwide, the party's nominee could be unclear even when the national convention begins in Denver. That could leave it up to the unpledged superdelegates to call the race.

"They could easily pick the nominee," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Ideally, you want the people to choose the nominee in the primaries. But what happens when the people split right down the middle? You have to do it some other way."

The system of appointing superdelegates was created following the 1980 presidential election as a way for party leaders to retain influence should a single candidate not emerge from the primaries, said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

"The superdelegates were essentially a response to the 1970s reforms, when reformers took power away from party bosses," Zelizer said.

The people typically chosen as superdelegates are members of Congress, Democratic governors and top party officials. "All the people who had been disempowered by the reforms were given some powers by the superdelegate process," he said.

This year could be the first year the superdelegate process could be tested since 1984.

That year, former Vice President Walter Mondale used the support from superdelegates to secure the Democratic nomination from the surging campaign of Sen. Gary Hart.

Mondale was the favorite of the party establishment that year. This year it's less clear who has that advantage, pundits say.

"It's harder to tell," Zelizer said. "Barack Obama has started to draw more support. He's not exactly anti-establishment any more. When (Sen. Edward M.) Kennedy endorsed him, that changed it a bit.

"For a while it seemed Hillary Clinton had the superdelegates. I think that's where the weight of evidence is."

The choice is clearer among New Mexico's superdelegates.

Mary Gail Gwaltney, a Democratic National Committeewoman from Las Cruces, said she couldn't conceive of a scenario in which she might pledge her vote to Obama.

"I want to have a woman president of the United States, one that I can be proud of," she said. "I think Hillary Clinton's going to win."

Sanchez on Thursday said he had fielded several calls from national media outlets asking about his position as a superdelegate.

His vote for Clinton is solid unless the New York senator drops out "or if it appeared she had absolutely no chance at some point," he said.

State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón has not declared his intentions as a superdelegate, remaining neutral until the state's caucus is concluded. That hasn't stopped the campaigns from courting him, he said.

Meanwhile, Fred Harris, a former Oklahoma senator and one-time presidential candidate, remains Obama's only superdelegate voter in the state so far.

"I'll be (for) Obama for as long as he's in the race," Harris said. "Unless he withdraws, which I don't expect."