Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has cut his budget for the Iowa Republican Party’s Straw Poll in August.
Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for Romney, says he can’t say how much of a cut back there is, just that they won’t spend as much on the Ames event as they’d originally planned.
"Ames likely won’t require the same level of financial resources that might have been required if there was a larger field of participants commited," Albrecht says.
After former Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle ridiculed the Straw Poll as a circus and advised GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani to skip it, Romney declared he would participate in the event — and if it was a circus, Romney said he wanted to be the ringmaster.
"Without Giuliani and McCain participating in the Straw Poll and even Fred Thompson, the level of financial commitment is just not needed since we’re not going toe-to-toe with them," Albrecht says.
The Romney campaign is still contacting potential Iowa Caucus-goers and urging them to attend the Straw Poll, according to Albrecht.
"Ames will be our organizational equivalent of a full-body work-out in preparation for January," Albrecht says.
The Straw Poll will be held Saturday, August 11th.