Former New York Gov. George Pataki criticized Democrats on the health care, the economy, taxes and foreign policy Tuesday, while urging local Republicans to work to win next year’s midterm elections.

Pataki was the featured speaker Tuesday night at the Scott County Republican Party’s Ronald Reagan Dinner in Bettendorf, where a slate of four GOP gubernatorial candidates also were on hand.

Pataki laced into the pending health-care proposals, the $787 billion stimulus package and complained President Barack Obama spent too much time trying to mend relations with foreign leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjad. 

“We are making wrong decision after wrong decision,” he said. “President Obama, think about President Reagan. It was never America’s strength that created problems in the world; it’s America’s weakness that creates problems in the world.”

Pataki’s trip to Iowa has fueled speculation he might run for president in 2012, but he declined to say whether he’s considering it.

Pataki was New York’s governor for 12 years, leaving office in 2006. He flirted with a presidential bid in 2008 but opted not to run.

“I think the people are ready for change, but not this type of change,” Pataki said in an interview with the Quad-City Times before the event.

Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party, responded: “Governor Pataki, like the Republican Party itself, is known more for what he is against — Democratic attempts to move his state forward on health care, education and the environment — than what he is for. He will fit right in with the (Iowa) Republican gubernatorial candidates.”

The ex-governor’s speech was decidedly centered on pocketbook and foreign policy issues. In the interview, he sidestepped a question about whether there should be a referendum on  Iowa’s ballot next year to outlaw same-sex marriage, an important issue with social conservatives.

The Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage earlier this year and critics have ever since pushed for a public vote on the matter.

“I’ll leave it to the people of Iowa to decide, but I’ve always been troubled when the courts make significant policy changes as opposed to seeing policy changes made by elected representatives of the people,” Pataki said.

The party’s gubernatorial candidates also emphasized lowering taxes and creating jobs, as they tried to make an impression on the activists in the room.

The one potential candidate who wasn’t there was former Gov. Terry Branstad, which drew barbs from Bob Vander Plaats and state Rep. Christopher Rants. “I can’t imagine running for governor and not being here in Scott County,” Rants said.

Branstad has not yet said whether he’s running, though it’s widely expected. His campaign had previously said he wouldn’t attend.

Local Republicans said Tuesday they were pleased with the turnout. About 300 people purchased tickets, and the event at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Center raised $25,000, said Brian Kennedy, finance director for the local party.

Kennedy, a former state party chair, has urged a greater focus on eastern Iowa and on economic issues. “We can’t win elections just focused on western Iowa,” he said Tuesday night.