LOSE LIKE A MAN, mittens. Actually, however...
Barkley spoke for many years of his Republican Party affiliation. In 1995, he considered running as a Republican candidate for Alabama's governorship in the 1998 election.[67] However, in 2006, he altered his political stance.[68] At a July 2006 meeting of the Southern Regional Conference of the National School Boards Association in Destin, Florida, Barkley lent credence to the idea of running for Governor of Alabama, stating:
I'm serious. I've got to get people to realize that the government is full of it. Republicans and Democrats want to argue over stuff that's not important, like gay marriage or the war in Iraq or illegal immigration... When I run — if I run — we're going to talk about real issues like improving our schools, cleaning up our neighborhoods of drugs and crime and making Alabama a better place for all people.[69]
In September 2006, Barkley once again reiterated his desire to run for Governor. He noted, "I can't run until 2014 ... I have to live there for seven years, so I'm looking for a house there as we speak."[70] In July 2007, he made a video declaring his support for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.[71] In September 2007, during a broadcast on Monday Night Football, Barkley announced that he bought a house in Alabama to satisfy residency requirements for a 2014 campaign for governor. In addition, Barkley declared himself an Independent and not a Democrat as previously reported. "The Republicans are full of it," Barkley said, "The Democrats are a little less full of it."[70]
