Representatives Royal and Channell of the Rural Caucus. - The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist sees the hole.

This week Bill Shipp wrote:

Slippage goes on: Two leading House Democrats, Rep. Richard Royal of Camilla and Rep. Mickey Channell of Greensboro, have delivered campaign contributions to the legislature's Republican leadership. The cash tributes are seen as a sure sign the declining Democrats are about to lose another pair of lawmakers.

This prediction came despite statements from each of these Democrats that the contributions don't indicate their future plans.

As noted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article first reporting these contributions, Royal and Channell are founding members of the Rural Caucus, a mostly Democratic group formed last fall by lawmakers hoping to push for small-town issues in the wake of gains made by suburban Republicans.

Rep. Jeanette Jamieson (D-Toccoa), chairwoman of the group, doesn't believe rural Democrats will abandon the party.

Rather than calling these fellow Democrats scalawags and traitors at this point, wouldn't it make more sense to contact them and encourage them to stick with us for a variety of reasons, including that 2006 is going to be our year.