Aircraft jobs spur civil war; Battle pits Northwest against rising South | al.com

Aircraft jobs spur civil war; Battle pits Northwest against rising South | al.com: "MOBILE, Ala. -- A new civil war is brewing over aircraft production.

The economic battle for jobs and capital investment pits the Pacific Northwest against a rising challenger in the Southeast.

The regional fight is fiercest over the U.S. Air Force tanker contract, a potential 179-plane order that could deliver thousands of aircraft assembly jobs either to Mobile or Everett, Wash.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., fired the latest volley when she suggested that Alabama workers don't have the experience needed to assemble airplanes."