By Todd Stacy, Alabama Daily News

With the news the Congressman Bradley Byrne is announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senate today, I didn't want to wait any longer to publish a podcast of my interview with him.

I sat down with Byrne to talk about a range of issues, but we got into the Senate race and his thought process on considering a run. He also talked in depth about his unsuccessful run for governor in 2010 and the lessons he learned from that race.

Also of interest to Alabama politics nerds is our recollection of the two-year college scandal and his time as chancellor cleaning up the system.

It's a long interview, some parts of which are a bit dated, so you won't offend me if you skip ahead to the good parts.