Looking to continue his reign as the Republicans' fund-raising king, Mitt Romney is putting on another big fund-raising show in Boston, this time at Fenway Park and the The Garden. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports that Romney will bring supporters to the two sports facilities next week to raise more dough for his campaign. Festivities start next Sunday with a barbecue at Fenway Park and continue Monday with another day-long fund-raising blitz at The Garden.

Romney kicked off his presidential fund-raising drive in January with a similar event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston. The event helped him raise nearly $21 million last quarter, far more than any of his GOP rivals. Can he keep pace? We'll know when second quarter numbers come out in a few weeks.

Romney, meanwhile, is addressing the National Right to Life Convention today in Kansas City. And he's facing new scrutiny over his position on stem cell research and his overall conversion on abortion. Romney seeks to explain his position on stem cell research with an article of his own in the National Review.

Today's vote by the Massachusetts Legislature to reject a proposed gay marriage ban will likely cause some ripples in the presidential race. The candidate with the most at stake is likely Mitt Romney, who fought hard for the ban. Romney today is already reaffirming his call for a federal gay marriage ban. In the past, Romney has called rival John McCain "disingenous" for opposing gay marriage but also opposing a federal ban. Will we see more of that rhetoric now?

Here's Romney's full statement today: "Today's vote by the State Legislature is a regrettable setback in our efforts to defend traditional marriage. Unfortunately, our elected representatives decided that the voice of the people did not need to be heard in this debate. It is now even more important that we pass a Constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage. Marriage is an institution that goes to the heart of our society, and our leaders can no longer abdicate their responsibility."

UPDATE: McCain's campaign just put out a statement taking aim at Romney for having opposed a different proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2002, though that proposed amendment went further than this one, seeking to ban not just same-sex weddings but domestic-partner benefits as well.

"In typical Mitt Romney fashion, the former Massachusetts governor was against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage before he was for it," McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said in the statement. "Romney continues to prove that he is someone that will say and do anything in pursuit of the nomination."

Abortion, immigration, gay marriage -- what's next, McCain and Romney duking it out over the final episode of "The Sopranos?"

The campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain launched a new broadside against Mitt Romney today over Romney's reversal on abortion, but Romney's campaign quickly hit back by saying McCain's move was borne out of "desperation."

The back-and-forth began when McCain's aides, trying to stir up controversy before Romney's address to the National Right to Life convention in Kansas City Friday, sent an email to reporters questioning Romney's rhetoric on abortion. The email, under the header "Mitt vs. Fact," included a link to a YouTube video of Romney saying in May 2005 that he was committed to maintaining the "status quo" on Massachusetts abortion laws.

McCain's campaign tried to equate those remarks with an endorsement of abortion rights and argue that they contradict Romney's assertion that he became an opponent of abortion rights after an epiphany months earlier during a debate over stem cell research.

"Mitt Romney's biggest challenge in this election will be convincing Republicans he has principled positions on important issues," McCain spokesman Matt David said in a statement.

Romney's campaign promptly responded by saying the video had been edited selectively. His aides released a fuller transcript of Romney's remarks that day, in which he explains his ethical objections to a certain kind of embryonic stem cell research. (Here's a link to the full video.)

"It's very troubling that the McCain campaign would attack the governor's pro-life stance by trying to alter the context of a statement made at a news conference where he also made a passionate case for his veto of stem cell legislation that showed a level of disregard for the sanctity of human life," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said in a statement. "The McCain campaign's motives are obviously borne of desperation."

The dispute over abortion is the latest issue over which McCain and Romney have tangled. They have also been engaged in a heated debate over immigration -- McCain helped craft the Senate's new immigration reform bill, and Romney has attacked it as effectively giving "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.

Romney today also announced the members of his "National Faith and Values Steering Committee," including prominent anti-abortion activist James Bopp Jr., public relations guru Mark DeMoss, and Lou Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition.

Tommy G. Thompson wants you to know: He's not dropping out of the presidential race.

Speaking a few minutes ago on a conference call with reporters, Thompson guessed (correctly, we think) that the media, after being invited to the call, thought maybe he was ending his campaign. Well, he's not.

"I wanted everyone to know that I am very much involved in this campaign," said Thompson, a former four-term Wisconsin governor and Bush cabinet secretary.

The real point of Thompson's call was to announce that he was, in fact, going to participate in a straw poll this summer in Ames, Iowa. (Thompson, like some of his competitors, were reassessing whether or not to compete in the poll after Senator John McCain of Arizona and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said last week that they would not.)

"This is in every way a good thing for our country, for Iowa, and certainly for the Republican Party," Thompson said. "I believe it is a mistake to skip the straw poll .... Let's start the race."

Thompson, who has raised comparatively little money and barely registers in most polls, has staked his campaign on doing well in Iowa, and, more specifically, coming in at least second place in Ames.

Who said the Federal Election Commission was just a trove of colorless data?

The FEC, which collects campaign finance reports from political candidates, has just put up a cool new interactive map on the presidential race where you can see which states gave the most to which candidates. A true junkie could spend hours looking at this thing.

While we're at it, if you don't know about the Center for Responsive Politics, you should. Their site on presidential fund-raising race rates as a must-bookmark.

Much has been made about the support Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have attracted in Massachusetts. But John Edwards is racking up his own list of Bay State endorsements, and he's got some prominent names of his own.

Those backing Edwards in 2008 include former attorney general and man-about-town Scott Harshbarger, Norfolk DA William R. Keating, Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn, and state Representative Ron Mariano of Quincy.

"John Edwards brings to this race the compassion, experience, integrity, and vision to lift our nation from the failure of the past six years to truly become this century's first great American leader," Harshbarger said in a statement released by Edwards's campaign. "And I and the others who join me in supporting him are committed to doing all we can to ensure he has that opportunity."

From Peter Canellos in Washington
In every presidential election there is an unspoken competition among political pros to come up with the perfect catchphrase to describe a key voting group. From the "Reagan Democrats" of the '80s to the "soccer moms" of the '90s, to the "security moms" of the early '00s, every presidential campaign has spawned its own swing constituency.
Hillary Clinton's strategists have made an early bid for the 2008 title: "Women with needs." This catchphrase, mentioned in this morning's Washington Post, is indeed catchy: One can imagine office workers going up to their colleagues and asking "Are you a woman with needs?"
The Clinton team uses the description to cover less-educated, lower-income women who -- the campaign insists -- are flocking to Clinton. The Post cites its own poll as evidence. It indicates that Clinton is doing better among less-educated women while Barack Obama fares better with higher-educated women.
But as her rivals are sure to point out, Hillary Clinton is a woman with some needs of her own: She's been spending huge amounts of time lately raising money as the second-quarter fundraising deadline looms, fearing that Obama will reap more from the Internet due to his antiwar stance. And some national polls show the two candidates neck and neck. (Others show Clinton with a large lead.)
In any case, nailing down the women's vote -- be it from soccer moms, security moms, or women with needs -- would be a huge step forward for the world's best-known WWN.

US Representative Barney Frank, who's been known to have a caustic word or two about Republican pols, lays into Mitt Romney in an interview with NECN's Jim Braude to be broadcast tonight. Frank calls Romney "the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics."

Here's the full quote, as provided by NECN: "The real Romney is clearly an extraordinarily ambitious man with no perceivable political principle whatsover. He is the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics."

Geez, Barney, tell us how you really feel. The interview airs at 7 p.m.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has invited the Democratic presidential candidates to a debate on Dec. 17. The event will be sponsored by CNN and The Politico, a new Washington-based political publication and website, and will air nationally on CNN. Invitations were sent to all eight declared Democratic candidates.

"My father’s presidential library is an ideal venue for those who seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for President," Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, said in a statement. "President Kennedy championed public service and viewed politics as a noble and honorable profession ... It is therefore fitting that his library host a debate for the American people among the candidates who seek to lead our nation."

In 2000, the library hosted the first presidential debate between Al Gore, then the vice president, and George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas. Kennedy and Richard Nixon took part in the first-ever televised debate during the 1960 presidential campaign.