CHEYENNE - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's pledge to make the U.S. strong militarily and economically if elected was a selling point for Lorene Sims, who traveled from Laramie Sunday evening to hear the former Massachusetts governor.

"I also think he will get the budget straightened out," Sims said.

Dauna McBride, who traveled from Laramie with Sims to see Romney in person, said she thought Romney was sincere.

About 300 people, mostly Republican precinct men and women, filled a large meeting room at Little America to hear Romney.

Dressed casually in a navy plaid shirt and khaki pants, Romney stood on a platform in the middle of the room and under a spotlight for his 20 minute speech.

Earlier Sunday, he made campaign stops in Riverton and Gillette.

During a brief news conference after his Cheyenne speech, Romney said he was in Wyoming for the second time because of the Republican Party's January 5 date to choose presidential delegates to the national GOP convention.

"It's important for me to do well in the early states and Wyoming is second in the sweepstakes," he said.

"I have a strong leadership team here. I'd like to win. If I can't win I'd like to do well, to come in second."

"It's easier to find the voters here than in a typical early state," he added.

He also said he didn't know who was behind the anti-Mormon telephone call to voters in New Hampshire.

"I think this attack on me is un-American," Romney said Sunday evening.

His campaign has asked the attorney general in New Hampshire to investigate the calls.

During his speech, he drew bursts of applause when he said he favored an energy-independent country, federal spending cuts, low taxes and an end to the so-called death tax.

He also wants to reduce to zero taxes on interest from saving accounts and investments.

He received more applause when he said he believes marriage is a union between a man and a women.

His message was essentially one of optimism about the future of the American culture which centers on the people's belief in hard work, education, opportunity and patriotism.

Referring to the threats to the nation by Islamic terrorists, Romney said, "Bush and Cheney ought to be appreciated for having kept us safe over the last six years."

If the Democrats take over the administration, they will take the country on "a sharp left turn,'" he said.

Instead, he continued, the administration needs to make the U.S. strong, which was President Ronald Reagan's way of dealing with the Soviet Union.

"I'm running for president to keep America strong," he said.

When he took questions from the audience, a Laramie County physician, noting references to Romney's "flip-flops" on abortion, asked him to clarify his position.

Romney said that while he always has opposed abortion, when asked about the role of government, he said that as governor he would protect the laws.

But when he became governor, he said, he was confronted with a bill authorizing embryonic cell research and couldn't sign it.

He went on to veto all anti-life bills.

For his actions, he received an award from the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, he said.

"If president, I will be pro-life," Romney said.

Capital reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@trib.com