If Artur Davis wins the Democratic primary here on Tuesday, placing him within one step of becoming the first black governor of Alabama, he will have reached this milestone in the most improbable of ways: bypassing the hierarchy of the state's oldest civil rights organizations. In this combustible election season, as President Barack Obama's policies are fueling a fierce debate in midterm races across the country, there is a different test under way in Alabama. Can Obama's coalition style of victory -- winning over white voters before gaining support from black leaders -- be replicated in the Deep South? 'Some people have said during the course of this race that this is a good idea, but Alabama's not ready for it,' Davis said, rallying supporters at his campaign headquarters on Monday afternoon. 'Some people have said, 'maybe someday.' Someday is the refuge of people who tell us to wait. Not someday, but right now.' When Davis announced his plan to run for governor early last year, the president's popularity was at its peak. Obama had won the state's primary, and even though he suffered a 20-point defeat in the general election, the enthusiasm surrounding the arrival of the first black president added to the notion that voters in Alabama, too, might be ready for change. Davis, 42, is among the nation's new guard of black political figures. But since he was elected to Congress in 2002, he has often been at odds with much of the state's black political establishment. He never sought -- or earned -- their blessing to run for governor. And the civil rights organizations that have long carried influence over many black voters in the state have lined up behind Davis' opponent, Ron Sparks, the state agriculture commissioner, who is white. Just as Obama tried to keep racial politics from splintering his campaign two years ago, Davis has tried to keep attention fixed on his plans to improve economic opportunities in the state. He has proposed to lift the state sales tax on groceries, force out-of-state timber companies to pay property taxes and rewrite the state's constitution, which has been in place since 1901, to streamline Alabama's government. Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, is prohibited from seeking a third term. Nine candidates -- seven Republicans and two Democrats -- are running in the Tuesday primary. The Republican contest is expected to be sent into a runoff election on July 13, but regardless of the winner, the party likely holds an advantage in the general election because only one of the past six governors has been a Democrat. While the campaign features a litany of contentious issues, like bringing Las Vegas-style gambling to Alabama and requiring that state driver's license exams be given only in English, the conversation on the Democratic side of the campaign is infused with race. The leaders of the Alabama Democratic Conference, the Alabama New South Coalition and two other civil rights groups that endorsed Sparks delivered an ominous prediction that Davis, the only black candidate in the race, could not win in the general election. Several polls show that Davis holds an advantage, but Sparks has narrowed the lead in recent weeks. 'He's gambled on the fact that he'd rather go for the white vote than the black vote,' Joe Reed, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, one of the leading black groups, told reporters after endorsing Sparks in May. The intensifying exchanges between Reed and Davis underscore the evolution in the generational ranks of black political leaders. But as Davis worked to show his independence in Washington -- he was the only black member of Congress to vote against the health care bill this spring -- he drew a stern rebuke from Jesse Jackson, who scolded, 'You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man.' Davis said he opposed the health care bill because it was too expensive and he preferred a targeted approach. But his rival, Sparks, and other critics said that Davis' vote was merely an attempt to build his appeal to white voters for the fall election. The strategy of creating a coalition of white and black voters is reminiscent of the approach taken in the early stages of Obama's presidential campaign. Many black political leaders in Alabama, South Carolina and other states did not initially support Obama's bid, but joined after he demonstrated support among white voters. Glen Browder, a former Democratic congressman from Alabama who last year wrote 'The South's New Racial Politics,' said a victory by Davis would 'change the dynamics of Alabama politics' and loosen the establishment's 'grip on the black vote.' 'He's taking a bold and risky gamble with an eye toward the general election, trying to establish himself as a new-style candidate, who is not the black candidate for the Alabama governorship,' Browder said. 'The course he is taking is a roll of the dice.' In an interview on Monday, as he stopped by his campaign headquarters, Davis said that he was working to create 'the most diverse winning coalition a candidate for governor has ever put together in this state.' He said that even though he did not win the endorsement of the civil rights groups in the primary, he believed that most black voters would support him if he reached the general election. A bigger challenge, he said, will be running in a tough year for Democrats. 'There's no question that many of President Obama's policies are unpopular in the state, but that's not going to determine who the next governor is,' Davis said in his office, where a painting of the president was hanging on the wall. 'National issues just simply aren't relevant to the questions that are going to decide this race.' 