This hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for Mobile’s effort to land at least a part of the multi-billion dollar Air Force tanker deal.

Mounting Murtha problems

The man Mobile courted, Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha, gave up the fight to get a split contract between Northrop Grumman/EADS and Boeing this year. While other presidents have courted Murtha, President Obama has not. Obama’s choice to remain Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, dismissed the idea of dividing the contract, saying it would make the project more expensive. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have been working behind the scenes to reduce the influence of Murtha, who has been wounded politically by investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to him.

Speaking of politics

Another factor working against Mobile is the outcome of the 2008 election. Alabama and its 9 electoral votes went to John McCain. The two counties that would benefit most from the tanker project, Mobile and Baldwin, voted overwhelmingly Republican. Does anyone remember what happened to Brookley Air Force Base after Alabama voted for Republican Barry Goldwater over Democrat Lyndon Johnson in 1964? Just days after LBJ’s election, President Johnson announced the closing of Brookley, which once employed 13,000 workers.

Some don’t believe there was a link between the two, but the timing was curious, nonetheless.

Combine that with the real (or perceived) influence of Boeing in Congress, and it’s clear that Mobile has some work to do to keep the tanker deal from going into a tail spin.