Maureen Groppe

USA TODAY

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The nation should dramatically increase defense spending and let states take the lead on domestic issues, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence told a national gathering of conservatives Friday.

Pence, one of a number of potential presidential candidates who spoke this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said 2016 could be the first foreign policy national election since 1980.

"Weakness arouses evil," the Republican governor said. He accused the Obama administration of reducing the size of the military and compromising America's place in the world.

"The errors of this administration are almost too numerous to recount," he said.

Those errors, Pence said, include the Affordable Care Act, executive actions that shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation, and pending regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Conservatives need to "put the promise of federalism and state-based reform back at the center of the conservative agenda," he said.

"Let's empower the states with renewed flexibility to develop positive, substantive alternatives grounded in our conservative principles," said Pence, who addressed CPAC many times during his 12 years in the House.

Friday was his first appearance as governor and as a potential presidential candidate.

Pence got a laugh from the audience when he noted that some people say next year's GOP presidential nominee should have experience as a governor.

"I am certainly sympathetic to that," he said with a smile.

But the right nominee won't promise to run Washington the same way a state is run, he noted.

"Washington is not a state, literally or figuratively," Pence said. "I'm listening for someone who says, 'Send me to Washington, D.C., and I'll fight to make it more possible for the next person leading my state to govern with more freedom and flexibility.' "

Pence has said he won't make a decision on a presidential bid until Indiana's 2015 legislative session wraps up at the end of April, and he has not been raising money, hiring staff or taking other steps needed to fully explore his chances.

Pence was the keynote speaker for Friday's conference dinner honoring Ronald Reagan during the four-day gathering at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center just outside Washington. The setting was fancier but not as well attended — either by convention-goers or national media — as daytime CPAC forums where other potential presidential candidates spoke.

Before Pence's speech, Grant Strobl, a University of Michigan freshman and board member for the Young Americans for Freedom, said the nation needs a president with the executive experience of a governor. Strobl doesn't know enough about Pence to say whether he would make a good candidate, but he said he likes the "charismatic conservatism" of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Thomas Neviaser, a retired physician from Virginia, hasn't picked a 2016 favorite yet and was looking forward to learning more about Pence.

"I don't know him very well," Neviaser said. "The main reason I'm here is to hear from all of them."

Pence was not among the dozen potential candidates whose names were included on a recent Quinnipiac Poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers released this week.

Walker led that poll 2-to-1 over his nearest rival.

The University of Virginia's Center on Politics ranks former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Walker as the top two possible contenders for the GOP nomination. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is in the third tier, and Pence is in the fourth.

Pence has federal and state governing experience and is well liked by conservatives, the center says. But he has low name recognition nationally and could not run for re-election as governor while seeking the presidency.

In addition to his CPAC speech, Pence was invited to this weekend's Club for Growth's economic conference in Florida and will address the Republican Jewish Coalition's spring conference in April.

Asked recently whether the trips are part of an exploration for a presidential bid, Pence said he appreciates "the opportunity to travel a little bit, talk about the success that we're having in Indiana, as well as talk about my belief that whoever is leading our party, we need to be solutions conservatives."

Contributing: Catalina Camia and Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY