Barkley's next campaign: Fixing Birmingham

Charles Barkley -- the funniest man on television -- wants to be to Birmingham what Magic Johnson is to Downtown LA, only more so:

"My No.1 priority right now is redoing downtown Birmingham and downtown Leeds," [Barkley's hometown, east of Birmingham] Barkley said. "I'm trying to buy up every vacant building, and I want to remodel the entire city. That's what I'm going to do."

No grandiose ideas here.

Barkley used to talk about running for Governor, but he seems to have given that up, perhaps because Jesse Ventura beat him to it. That's a shame, because I'd vote for him in a heartbeat, even if he did go to Auburn. Compared to the monumentally crooked Democratic incumbent, Don Siegelman, and his likely challenger, paleo-Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, Barkley would be an easy choice.