Alabama Rep. Davis Launches Landmark Bid for Governor

[firedupdem]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003026928

Rep. Artur Davis , a fourth-term Democrat from Alabama, officially announced Friday that he is entering the 2010 race for governor. Davis’ bid, if successful, would make him the first black governor in Alabama, a state that was a focal point of racial conflict during the civil rights era just a couple of generations ago.

“Every path I have followed has always lead me back home,” said Davis — a native of the state capital of Montgomery — at a press conference in downtown Birmingham, Alabama’s largest city and the population center of the 7th District that he has represented since 2003. “So, I am honored to stand before you today and to say that if God will bless my footsteps once again, I intend to become the next governor of the state of Alabama.”

Davis, who previously discussed his plans with CQ Politics in a November interview, also would become only the second elected black governor of any Southern state — Virginia Democrat L. Douglas Wilder’s 1989 victory made him the first in the nation — and only the fourth ever in the nation. The other two, both Democrats, are currently in office: Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and David A. Paterson of New York.

Like Barack Obama , a fellow Harvard Law School graduate who made history with his election as president last November, the 41-year-old Davis is banking on his image as a member of a younger generation of African-American leadership, more centrist and less tied to the civil rights movement than most older black politicians. Davis has close ties to Obama — he was invited to the president’s Super Bowl watching party last Sunday — and drew some media speculation during Obama’s transition as a possible candidate for appointment as U.S. Attorney General.