The national Republican Party is in a collective funk, but that despair does not extend to the Georgia GOP, party activists and leaders said as they prepare for the state party convention this weekend in Columbus.

Republican leaders in Congress fret that they could lose dozens of seats in this fall's general election, the party's national campaign committees are woefully underfunded compared to Democratic counterparts and national polls continue to show presumptive Republican nominee John McCain behind either Democratic rival.

But in Georgia, the political bedrock remains as red as the dirt.

Or, at least, that's what Georgia Republicans hope. When their convention begins today, the party won't be without challenges, but members will be projecting a very positive public face.

"I'm excited about the ticket, oh, absolutely," said U.D. Roberts, a former state party vice chairman from Columbus.

Roberts and other state Republicans have reasons to be excited. Among them:

• Georgia Democrats' candidate recruitment for legislative races was lacking, despite record interest and turnout from the presidential primary and a national wave of bad news for Republicans.

• Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss has millions in the bank and has worked hard to put last year's ugliness over immigration behind him.

• None of the Democrats running to challenge Chambliss has raised the money necessary to seriously challenge Chambliss.

• McCain's Georgia team appears to have pulled together a state party that was fractured after former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Feb. 5 presidential primary here.

"I'm not sure how it will all play out, but I think there is no doubt John McCain and our team has reached out to everyone and the response has been fantastic," said Alec Poitevint, a former state party chair and McCain's Georgia campaign chairman. "We were blessed with a very high-caliber group of candidates, and the leadership of those campaigns have all joined with McCain."

That work will pay dividends on Saturday, when Republicans elect 30 at-large delegates and alternates to the national party convention in September in Minneapolis. Thirty-nine delegates were already selected at district-level conventions, and the party also sends its state chairwoman and national committeeman and committeewoman to the convention.

"Everyone on our slate is going to be supportive of Senator McCain, no matter who they may have supported in the primary," said Eric Tanenblatt, chairman of the party's convention nominating committee. "We're going to leave Columbus a united party."

Tanenblatt's committee will present a delegate list to the convention floor for approval. There was concern earlier in the week among some Republicans that a floor fight could be started by supporters of other presidential candidates; the McCain camp and party leaders appear to have headed that off.

"All our delegates and alternates are going to be John McCain supporters when they head to Minnesota," Tanenblatt said. "We're going to put together a slate that is a unity slate."

Chambliss must hope for some of that unity today when he speaks to the convention. A year ago the state's senior senator was met with boos and catcalls over his support for an immigration reform bill that many Republicans called amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The issue threatened to derail not just Chambliss, but McCain, too, as hard-line party activists raised a national stink over the bill that was backed by President Bush. The bill ultimately failed and Chambliss, McCain and others distanced themselves from the effort.

"He's come a long way since then," Chambliss spokeswoman Michelle Grasso said.

Grasso said Chambliss' plan today is simple.

"We're going to go in there and we have a lot of positive things we're going to talk about," she said.

The campaign had

$3.6 million on hand as of March 31, campaign leaders in counties across the state and a roster of 11,000 contributors, she said.

Not everyone is convinced, however.

Joe McCutchen, a party activist from Ellijay, said he will, for the first time, vote for a Libertarian candidate rather than vote for Chambliss because of the incumbent's support of a just-passed farm bill that McCutchen and other Republicans view as laden with special-interest money. McCain, for example, said if he were president he'd veto the bill.

"I can't vote for Chambliss," McCutchen said.

Roberts, the former party leader from Columbus, also opposed the immigration bill Chambliss championed, but said he thinks that rift has healed.

"I think we're beyond that, personally," Roberts said.

Ben Fry, executive director of the state party, all but guaranteed it.

"Georgia's senior senator is going to be welcomed very warmly," Fry said. "He and our presidential candidate are going to be at the top of the ticket, and we're proud of that."