The skirmishing between Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback for the support of conservatives is getting more enetertaining by the day. As we reported early this week, Brownback trumpeted the backing of a slew of prominent social-conservative activists in Massachusetts he'd won over, many of whom suggested that conservatives shouldn't feel secure about Romney's commitment to the cause.

Now Romney's respnded in kind, releasing his own letter from a bunch of Massachusetts conservative activists who say that Romney actually can be trusted on their issues. The letter — which you can read here in our TPM Document Collection — praises Romney's record as Governor on issues from abortion to gay marriage and excuses his past lapses into liberalism. Key quote:

"It is clear that Governor Romney has learned much since 1994 – to the benefit of our movement and our Commonwealth. In fact, the entire nation has benefited from his socially conservative, pro-family actions in office. As we explained earlier, his leadership on the marriage issue helped prevent our nation from being plunged into even worse legal turmoil following the court decision that forced 'gay marriage' upon our Commonwealth."

How reassuring...