Question for thoth_of_nd and my other government geek friends

[sethrak]

I'm checking out CNN.com about yesterday's caucuses (BTW, Iowa Republicans, are you all huffing the fumes from fermenting corn silos? Huckabee???) and I noticed something odd. Several candidates, from both parties, are listed as having zero delegates from Jan 3rd, but total delegates or one or more. Upon clicking these candidates' names, I find their delegates are either Democratic "superdelegates" or "unpledged RBC delegates", from states that have yet to hold elections any time soon.

CNN.com does not give much information on how these superdelegates and unpledged delegates work. Can someone give me a layperson's explanation?

Thanks.