Dr. Charles Bullock: A Look Inside The Runoffs

From InsiderAdvantage Georgia:

Chambliss missed the majority required for victory by less than 9,200 votes. Martin trailed by three percentage points.

While most of the Libertarian votes would have probably gone to Chambliss had these voters chosen between the nominees of the two major parties, another set of voters would have gone to Martin had they selected between the Democrat and the Republican. Exit polls revealed that African Americans cast 30 percent of the vote for president but only 28 percent of the vote in the Senate contest. If the exit poll estimates are accurate, then 125,000 blacks who voted for President expressed no preference for senator. If these voters had behaved as blacks who made a selection did, giving 91 percent of their votes to Martin, the Democrat would have gotten an additional 114,000 votes and overcome Chambliss’ 110,000 vote lead.