Get this: The new guy running Gov. Bob Riley's campaign, Bill Johnson, once ran for the U.S. Senate in Missouri against John Aschcrof. He got 4.6 percent of the vote after coming out for the legalization of drugs and prostitution.

The Mobile Press-Register reported he ran as an independent, but the blogger at Alabama Politics blog says he was the Libertarian Party candidate, but the link he provides doesn't work.

Johnson has apparently worked with Riley since his days running for Congress. In 2002, Johnson was instrumental in Riley’s gubernatorial campaign and was later appointed to ADECA by the governor.

Jeff Vreeland claims to have spoken with "many people who work on Riley’s campaign" and they are "excited that Bill Johnson is back on leading them."

Johnson, an alumnus of John Carrol High School in Birmingham and Spring Hill College in Mobile, is known as a "colorful character." He left medical school to be join fights as a so-called "freedom fighter" or mercenary in countries involved in war and revolution, including Nicaragua and Afghanistan, according to profiles on the Web. Which means he was either CIA, a free-lance agency man, or surely a bit crazy.

The Register also claims that Johnson refused to pay taxes for 14 years of his life because he didn’t recognize the authority of the federal government.

Funny stuff in Montgomery. I'll be checking in personally in Montgomery Monday and Tuesday, and may even test out the LocustFork.Net canoe in the Alabama River and give it a run...