ATHENS, Ga. - While many of the nation's citizens run from reporters in fear, University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock welcomes all the media, all the time.
His office is decorated with yellowed clips of political cartoons and haphazard heaps of paper, files, cardboard boxes and books. An aging telephone stands on the corner of his desk, constantly ringing as reporters, racing against deadline, seek the perfect quote.
Dr. Bullock, who will give any reporter his home number so that he can be reached at night or on the weekend, says he believes he is delivering to the public some understanding of what would otherwise become a stupefying political process.
"I hope that I help the public understand why candidates are behaving as they do or, post-election, why something turned out the way it did," said Dr. Bullock, who has taught at UGA since 1968. "I don't want a person to go through life thinking there's a huge conspiracy."
With an election just around the corner, Dr. Bullock's relationship with the media is at its most intense. On any given day last week, Dr. Bullock spoke with at least 10 reporters and was quoted in media outlets from New York to Tennessee. He said that by the end of the year, he will have given between 500 and 600 interviews.
Dr. Bullock, unlike some people, relishes talking to reporters. He said they often know more than others, including academics, about current events because they have the time and resources to investigate interesting angles to common stories. And while some fault the media for not delving sufficiently into campaign issues, Dr. Bullock said the fault lies elsewhere.
"I think the media do an incredibly good job," he said. "If there are criticisms that there's not enough discussion of the issues, that's because the candidates aren't discussing the issues."
Dr. Bullock grew up in Tucker, an Atlanta suburb, and remembers using a scorecard to keep track of the 1952 Democratic convention, which required multiple ballots before Adlai Stevenson ultimately won the Democratic nomination for president. Dr. Bullock was later involved in campus politics and earned a doctorate in political science at Washington University in St. Louis.
In 1968, he returned to his home state to teach at UGA.
Dr. Bullock said he tries to be flexible with reporters. Before an election, he has given reporters quotes to explain different scenarios, so that the reporter does not have to call again if, for example, the underdog wins.
When the New York Post called Dr. Bullock a few years ago to ask about Karin Stanford, a former UGA professor who worked in his department and was revealed to have been the Rev. Jesse Jackson's mistress, Dr. Bullock gladly granted an interview.
After his name was printed in that newspaper, various national television crews showed up at his office in Baldwin Hall to capture Dr. Bullock's insight into Ms. Stanford's personality.
"That's the only time I talked to People magazine," Dr. Bullock said, laughing.
He said the strangest interview he ever had was with a Japanese television station, which had stationed reporters in Atlanta to transmit Election Day news in the early 1990s.
The time delay meant the reporter was asking for political commentary 10 hours before results were in. Dr. Bullock, nonetheless, dutifully gave his opinions, in English, to the reporter, who then turned to the camera and translated the statements into Japanese.
Sometimes Dr. Bullock's quotes fetch feedback from candidates.
"They tend not to call you if they're pleased, but I get calls from people who say, 'You've misinterpreted my message,"' he said.
Dr. Bullock once said a particular candidate was running a "stealth" campaign, and the candidate called him the next day to complain. But the next time the candidate ran for office, Dr. Bullock said, the candidate immediately called Dr. Bullock to outline the details of his campaign so he would not be accused of waging a "stealth" campaign.
While Dr. Bullock is free with his quotes, he keeps his political leanings a closely guarded secret - a secret to which not even his students are privy. He said that if the public knew his party affiliation, it would discount his political analyses as being partisan.
He tries to cultivate in his students a love for the political process and routinely gives campaign donations to former students running for office - both Republicans and Democrats, of course.
"I'm pleased when I see them taking the plunge," he said.
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