primary runoffs

Courtesy of Rob Christensen, via the Dome. This is good stuff.

The General Assembly is considering dumping an 82-year-old institution into the ashcan of history. It's an anachronism, the critics say. Discriminates against blacks, others say. Hurts Democrats, declare some.

B-A-L-O-N-E-Y, says Charles Bullock, the Richard B. Russell professor of political science at the University of Georgia, and perhaps the nation's leading expert on primary runoffs. Bullock thinks people base their opinions on myths, rather than facts. If North Carolina abolishes the primary runoff, Bullock says, the Republican Party could be opening the door to control by groups such as the Christian Coalition, and Democrats would be risking nominating more left-wing candidates.

I found this 1997 column really helpful in understanding the dynamics of primary runoffs. I wonder if or how those dynamics have changed over the past ten years.