ALOGONA, Iowa (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Saturday said he has scaled back plans for the straw poll in Ames next month.

He said he hopes to do well, but "we're not trying to overshoot dramatically." That that means reducing the straw poll budget and the number of supporters his campaign plans to bus in to the Aug. 11 event, he said.

"I think initially we planned to bring in a very large number of folks from across the state for the straw poll. We've cut back on our target from that standpoint to a level where we think we can win, but we're not trying to overwhelm anybody," he told reporters.

Romney said it's important to continue to show his commitment to the process and "engage our base of supporters so that by the time the caucus comes along we'll have our structure in place and our team members that are tried and tested.

"But we have pulled back the level of investment financially that we're making, in part, to recognize that Mayor Giuliani and Sen. McCain have decided not to participate, and apparently Sen. Thompson as well."

He said it will be a "great event, but it's not going to be as intense of an event as it would have been had the other front-runners decided to participate."

During a stop earlier in the day in Emmetsburg, Romney said his party is working to make Americans stronger, not grow the government as his Democratic rivals would do.

"I think America is at a critical juncture in our history and if we take the right course there will be an even brighter future for our kids," he said at a morning question and answer session. "If we turn left, as the Democrats would do, America would be a weaker nation, a less free nation, with a less prosperous future."

The former Massachusetts governor criticized Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in national polls, for what he said were her views on becoming a society of shared responsibility.

"It's like out with Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx," Romney said, referring to the free market advocate and then the socialist leader. "Her view is that government ought to be bigger, that big brother ought to be bigger, and that taxes ought to be higher, and she's wrong on that front."

Instead, he said Republicans like himself want to give a boost to individuals and encourage personal responsibility.

He also said the Democrats running for president don't know how to answer the challenges the country faces.

"There are a lot of things we need to do, and I am convinced we will be successful in doing them, but we'll do it not by turning left as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards would do, but by instead turning to strengthen the American people," he said.

His Republican rivals didn't escape his criticism either. When talking about immigration while in Algona, Romney said Rudy Giuliani has a record of not enforcing laws on the books. Romney said that, as governor, he vetoed a bill that would have given tuition breaks to illegal immigrants, deputized state police to enforce federal immigration laws and denied driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

"Mayor Giuliani had a different approach. His approach was to make New York City a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and by doing so make that a place where illegal aliens felt more comfortable being able to move," Romney said. "My view was if we've got a law, enforce the law."

While in Algona, Romney toured Hydrogen Engine Center Inc. The publicly traded company, incorporated in Iowa in 2003 and two years later in Canada, was founded by Ted Hollinger, a retired Ford Motor Co. engineer. The company is working to develop a global market for its renewable power generators and alternative-fuel internal combustion engines.

"This is the kind of technology and innovation that will enable America ultimately to become energy independent," Romney said.