Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's new book discusses his fight to strip collective bargaining power from state unions and his criticism of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, leading many to believe he is laying the groundwork for a
2016 presidential bid.
It was then-Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels who convinced Walker to attempt the action, he writes in "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge," set for release Nov. 19.
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Walker met up with Daniels at a November 2010 governor's conference just days before Walker's election.
"I wanted to hear everything (Daniels) had learned from his experience with collective bargaining in Indiana — how he did it, how his opponents responded, and what the results had been," Walker writes,
according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which obtained an early copy of the book.
The Journal Sentinel reports that the book's primary focus is on Walker's battle with public unions. The unions protested at the state capital and forced a recall election, which Walker won.
Walker also details the arduous path to passage of the bill, which included every state Democrat in the Senate leaving the state to prevent a vote since the bill contained financing. Eventually, financing was stripped out at Walker's request, but when members of his own party rammed the bill quickly through, Walker feared a backlash.
The backlash came, but open meetings objections survived the state Supreme Court, and Walker admitted the lawmakers made the right call, preventing the bill from having time to gain opposition.
The Associated Press reported that Walker also tells of his frustration with 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney because of his opinion that Romeny did a "lousy job of presenting a positive vision of free market solutions to our nation's problems in a way that is relevant to people's lives."
Romney's running mate Paul Ryan, who is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin, though, is described as a close friend. He is "one of the smartest and most decent people I know in or out of politics," Walker writes.
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Video Exposes Dangers of Obamacare Law