Murtha's Death Means More Tanker Problems?

A U.S. congressman's death may cause some shakeups in the battle to build tankers.
Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha has died from complications after gall bladder surgery.
Murtha was the ranking Democrat on the house subcommitee that oversees Pentagon spending and helps decide who gets the work.
He visited Mobile last year to look at what the city and Northrop Grumman had to offer compared to Boeing in Washington state to build the new refueling tankers.
If Murtha had a favorite, he didn't tip his hand.
At the time, Murtha said, "I'm very careful about what I'm saying in public."
But with Murtha's death, the man next in line to be chairman of the Defense Appropriations Sub-Committee is Washington state Congressman Norm Dicks.
Dicks has made it a clear that he thinks Boeing should build the tankers and was not happy with the Air Force's original pick of Mobile.
Dicks once said, "If the Air Force doesn't get it right, I'm going to reserve all of my options as a member of the appropriations committee to offer amendments and do everything I can to stop this thing from going forward."
Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean said he believed Murtha favored a dual contract.
And Dean said county officials will push for that because it will mean jobs for more than just Mobile and Washington State.
Dean said, "You're talking about 100,000 jobs throughout America. There are going to be jobs throughout this whole country if it's a dual buy, and I want to sell that idea."
Why would so many jobs be spread around if there's a dual contract?
The county's Information Technology Liaison, Peter Albrecht, said, "There are suppliers all over. General Electric is a big supplier for the KC-45, so, in Cincinnati, for example, that would mean thousands of additional jobs in that area."
Dean, Albrecht and others from Mobile plan to fly to Washington DC later this month to try to convince members of Congress to split the deal between Northrop-Grumman and EADS, and Boeing.