Bob Martin, Montgomery Independent
- Congressman Artur Davis believes he can follow in the footsteps of Barrack Obama’s successful quest for President and become the first African-American governor of Alabama. To accomplish that he will have to dramatically remake the state’s political landscape.
The congressman from Birmingham and areas south and west, who was born and raised in Montgomery, has become the main topic of early conversation in the speculation about potential gubernatorial candidates for the 2010 election, overshadowing some of the state’s top political names. But the main question, the one about race, while it may be his biggest strength also remains his largest weakness. This is mainly because President-Elect Obama, while polling 43 percent of the white vote nationally, only received ten percent in Alabama.
The race would also pit Davis against some of the biggest names among state democrats, who are also potential candidates. Those include Jim Folsom, the lieutenant governor who also served as governor, the state’s commissioner of agriculture, Ron Sparks, and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Seth Hammett.
