ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- While many states wrap up their Super Tuesday voting, Alaska voter will embark on theirs.

Late Tuesday afternoon, voters will be reporting to an eclectic variety of caucus sites throughout the state.

They will meet in convention centers, middle schools, local watering holes, churches and even a Chinese restaurant in Anchorage.

They will also be braving peak winter conditions -- including lows of minus 50 degrees -- just to reach their caucuses.

In Juneau, voters will trudge through more than a foot of new snow that has consistently fallen on icy roads and sidewalks since Saturday morning. Temperatures have been hovering in the mid-20s, making each step a careful one.

Meanwhile, about 650 miles and 75 degrees away, voters in the Alaska interior community of Fort Yukon will brave some of the coldest temperatures in the state to cast their presidential preference in a radio station lobby. Monday's high in Fort Yukon was minus 54.

Presidential races have typically rendered Alaska to an irrelevant state. That's changing for states such as Alaska, those with smaller delegate representation.

Alaska's Super Tuesday results are not the final word on the party's candidate choice, but rather a first step toward choosing delegates for this summer's national conventions.

Two factors make Alaska relevant this time: extremely tight presidential races in both political parties; and federal corruption investigations into U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and House Rep. Don Young.

The latter item remains secondary to caucuses, but it's stirred Democrats' hope rarely seen in a staunchly Republican state such as Alaska. It also has the GOP saying, not so fast, folks.

"In tight contests like these any state could be decisive," said John Pitney, a former researcher at the Republican National Committee who teaches government at Claremont McKenna College. "The fight for Republicans is to tamp down the Democratic gain with somebody who can prevent the big down draft."

The state is broken up into 40 house districts, but the similarities between the two parties' methods pretty much stop there.

For Democratic candidates, 18 national convention delegates are at stake. Alaska Democrats first send 411 delegates to its state convention in May, then elect its national delegates.

For the Republicans, there are 26 delegates at stake. First 550 delegates attend the state convention next month in Anchorage, where the 26 delegates get elected. They and three party officers will head to the summer's national convention.