AMES, Iowa (AP) – Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney acknowledged he took a huge political risk by taking control of the state’s troubled Big Dig highway project but says inaction would have been even worse.

“The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can,” he told a crowd of about 100 supporters who gathered for indoor picnic at the Gateway Hotel on a sweltering day in Ames.

“I’ll get the blame for anything that goes wrong,” he said.

“But I’m sure tired of people who are nothing but talk. I’m willing to take action.”

Saturday was the first out of state trip for Romney – who is mulling a run for president in 2008 – since he took control of the Big Dig.

Originally a $2.6 billion highway project that created a series of traffic tunnels through the heart of Boston, the cost of the Big Dig has swelled to more than $14.6 billion. The project has been dogged by problems, including leaks, falling debris, delays and cost overruns.

Years of troubles spawned a crisis on July 10 after 12 tons of ceiling panels collapsed, crushing a passing car and killing a passenger.

Romney’s trip to Iowa has been planned for weeks – long before the Big Dig crisis surfaced – and he said he felt comfortable the Big Dig was at a point where he can leave the state.

“There will always be critics,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This project is going to take months to correct and I will be available whenever I need to be there. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say home for several months – I’m not an engineer. I’m not a contractor.”

Romney has built an early political network in Iowa that includes former gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross, who introduced Romney on Saturday and who is serving as the chairman of the governor’s Commonwealth PAC in Iowa. Former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray was also in attendance and sat next to Romney at Saturday’s indoor picnic.

Gross burnished Romney’s credentials as a problem solver. He cited Romney’s shepherding of the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and the problems with the Big Dig.

“When people are in trouble they call on this man,” Gross said of Romney. “They call on this man. They call on this man to fix it.”

Besides speaking in Ames, Romney was meeting with party officials and speaking at the Republican Party of Iowa’s chairman’s dinner in Cedar Rapids.

Romney focused on leadership while speaking to supporters in Ames, but also touched on health care and foreign policy. He defended Israel’s right to defend itself in its recent conflict with Hezbollah, and said if he were president he would work to bring something like the health care law he passed in Massachusetts to the entire country.

The law, which Romney worked to pass with a majority Democratic legislature, requires every citizen of Massachusetts to have health care.

“We don’t have to have a government take over, Hillary-care,” he said, referring to a universal health insurance policy once proposed by New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Romney said he envisioned sitting on a panel with Clinton some day and the topic of health care coming up.

The difference between her plan and his plan was apparent, Romney said.

“That’s easy,” he said. “Mine got done.”

AP-ES-07-29-06 1750EDT