WEST DES MOINES, IOWA ? Presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said Friday he will compete in the Iowa straw poll and chided fellow Republican Mitt Romney for claiming victory in the early test of political strength.

Two other lower-tier Republican candidates, Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo, also announced Friday they would compete in the straw poll in August. They joined Brownback in challenging Romney to a series of debates before and during the event.

The flurry of announcements came after Rudy Giuliani and John McCain bowed out of the straw poll earlier this week, rendering the traditional event all but meaningless. That left only Romney among the top-tier candidates planning to participate.

Romney called his top rivals’ decision “a gift.” The former Massachusetts governor, who is better financed and leads in state polls, said his fellow front-runners realized “they couldn’t keep up with me in the first state in the presidential sweepstakes.”

Brownback offered the most aggressive criticism of Romney, saying “there are no coronations in America and you don’t declare yourself a winner before the game is played.”

The Kansas senator said the better-known candidates are out of touch with the party’s conservative base and that’s the reason they’re not competing in the straw poll.

“This election will be decided on policies and not personalities,” Brownback said. “My values and principles reflect those of Iowans.”

Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht said there have already been three debates among the GOP candidates, and he rejected criticism of Romney’s conservative record.

While McCain and Giuliani have opted to skip the nonbinding straw poll, both vow to compete in Iowa’s caucuses.

McCain, who was in Iowa for the first time since he decided to bypass the straw poll, stood by his decision – despite the presence of a man in a chicken suit who held a sign that read “you balked at the straw poll.”

“After Mayor Giuliani, who is either in the lead or close to it in the view of most people, and others were dropping out we thought it was probably not going to be a very valid process,” McCain told reporters after a campaign stop in Pella. “So we decided we’d focus all our attention on getting ready for the caucus.”

McCain was amused by the man in the chicken suit, who flapped his arms.

“You know, in New Hampshire, in the last campaign, we had at least 12 different animals who were with us,” he quipped.