In 2010, for the first time 136 years, Republicans took control of the Alabama legislature away from the Democrats. Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard has a lot to do with that victory, but he credits lessons learned from a book written about Democratic attack dog Rahm Emanuel, a former chief of staff for President Barack Obama who is currently the mayor of Chicago.

Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn)

“The number one lesson was that we had to be involved in candidate recruitment,” Hubbard told the conservative news website the Daily Caller. “And in the book about Emanuel, The Thumpin’, that was clear. That’s what they did. They went district by district and they picked conservative Democrats, professionals, business people to run for those seats. They didn’t just depend on who showed up and wanted to run.”

Hubbard explained that in 2006, the Alabama GOP likely lost close races because they didn’t have the quality “caliber of candidates” that they should have. A major focus in 2010 — when Alabama’s GOP won both the House and Senate — was recruiting good candidates.

Hubbard also said he’d like to run for governor in the future.

“In a perfect world, I’d like to run for governor one day,” Hubbard said.

Read more at the Daily Caller.