WASHINGTON — By now, if you haven’t heard — Alabama gubernatorial candidate Rep. Artur Davis took some fire two weeks ago from race provocateur and founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

“We even have blacks voting against the healthcare bill from Alabama,” Jackson said at a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation earlier this month, referring to Davis’ decision to vote against a House version of health care reform. “You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”

Jackson is no saint by any means, and some have chalked these comments up as just Jesse being Jesse. Jackson was clearly given a pass for his inactions, but this is just the latest episode in the drama that surrounds Davis and the Democratic Party establishment.

And we’ve heard this before. In his first bid for Congress in 2002, Davis’ opponent, incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard asked if Davis were “black enough” to represent Alabama’s 7th Congressional district. Davis went on to defeat Hilliard in the Democratic primary and hasn’t really faced a serious challenge since. But that was where it all started — when Davis demonstrated he was not going to play by the rank-and-files rules.

Back during that campaign, a lot of Republicans aided Davis in his bid. Hilliard had become a target after he made a trip to Libya in 1997 despite a U.S. ban, and that charged up the bandwagon that eventually got Davis elected, after two tries.

Fast forward to 2009: Davis, who is the odds-on favorite to take the Democratic nomination, isn’t getting a lot of love from the Alabama Democratic establishment.

Naturally his opponent, Alabama Agriculture & Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks, is going to launch salvos. But even the powerful Alabama Education Association (AEA), operated by the state’s shadow governor Paul Hubbert, was reportedly snooping around last summer for an alternative to Davis because they were uncertain about his prospects.

A former Democratic state legislator told me the reason a lot of the old school establishment is reluctant to jump on board with Davis is because if he were elected, that could somehow twist the dynamic and give the Republican Party control of the state Senate and House of Representatives.

But despite the conspiracy theories, Davis can hardly be defined as conservative, or even remotely conservative. Although he’s not as liberal as the national Democratic Party, shown by his vote against the health care proposals earlier this month to the chagrin of Jackson, he scored an abysmal 12 points in the 2008 American Conservative Union ratings (0-lowest, 100-highest). For a point of reference, Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby both scored an 84 and Rep. Jo Bonner scored an 83.

Despite not having the favor of some in his own party, Davis has a shot at the governor’s seat. As far as his run-in with Jackson — Danny, the Web master of the popular Alabama political blog “Doc’s Political Parlor & Home of Lawn Mower Repair” asks if Davis should “send Jackson flowers in thanks for the boost to his gubernatorial campaign, or is a grander gesture called for?”

As bad as Jackson’s comments were, the law of unintended consequences will likely cause this to be a net positive for Davis.

Health Care Fight Not Completely Lost

Before the Thanksgiving recess, Senate Democrats scored an important victory in a procedural vote that sent the controversial 2,000-plus page health care reform to the floor for debate.

Of course, it took some massaging and arm-twisting, including $300 million earmarked for Louisiana, to get it through. But it is what it is and now it’s make or break time for health care reform. The Democratic leadership’s goal — get it done before the new year starts and people will have a chance to forget about it going into the 2010 mid-term election cycle. However, that vote, which went 60-39, had major implications for the future of health care in the United States according to Sen. Richard Shelby.

“Tonight’s vote is a dangerous step toward government-run health care,” Shelby said right before the vote for cloture. “The goal of rational health care reform should be to decrease costs and improve access. This bill does exactly the opposite. This highly partisan, trillion dollar bill raises taxes, cuts Medicare, increases premiums and rations care. This isn’t reform. It’s simply bad medicine.”

This thing could still be derailed, depending on what amendments are offered, whether or not it includes the infamous public option or funding for elective abortion.

Round III Preview: KC-X Tanker and McCain

Alabama has an unlikely ally in the Boeing vs. Northrop Grumman battle — the former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona. McCain is the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and last month, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioning why certain criteria were being omitted in this current request for proposals. McCain formally asked why the RFP included in the price evaluation both fuel costs and calculation of military construction costs.

“Against that backdrop, why should the current source selection methodology not require that the TPP [Total Proposed Price] be adjusted to reflect those (and perhaps other similar) ownership costs?” McCain wrote in a letter dated Oct. 29. “Also, under the current source-selection methodology, will the source-selection authority assess most probably life-cycle cost (MPLCC) of those aircraft offered in response to the Response for Proposals? And why would the FURA [fuel usage rate assessment] and MILCON [military construction] assessments, described above, not favor mostly smaller airframes offered in response to the Request for Proposals?”

McCain’s influence is drawing the ire of pro-Boeing members of Congress. Rep. Todd Tiahrt lamented McCain’s push in a report from the conservative-leaning Human Events.

“Obviously the things he’s asking for weigh it toward the French company.” Tiahrt said.

That this has McCain’s eye — which bothers Tiahrt — is a sign this battle is far from being settled.