The anti-Romney sentiment was captured in a scene from the the 2008 retrospective “Game Change,” when Romney happened to walk into a men’s room during a debate break just as Huckabee, McCain and Giuliani were all trashing him to each other. A source with direct knowledge of the incident told POLITICO that McCain, during one of the bathroom breaks, slammed Romney and said he preferred longshot former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo to him “because at least he believes the things he says.”

The current presidential race had been shaping up similarly for Romney. He has a history with Jon Huntsman Jr., whose family his own was once close with and whose dad was reportedly furious that Romney became the head of the Salt Lake City Olympics in Utah in 2002. Sarah Palin recently mocked him harshly on Fox News, sticking a finger in the air to testwhich way the wind was blowing on his response to the debt-ceiling debate.

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But the barbs have been relatively low-key and far between. When Huckabee — who slammed Romney’s health care plan in his latest book and was the subject of a negative ad blitz from the candidate in Iowa in 2007 — took a pass on the race, it removed a lot of the potential drama.

And over the summer months, most of the notable personal animus was between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota pols who were vying for the top slot at the Ames Straw Poll and who tussled during the last debate and on the campaign trail. Romney, meanwhile, has avoided the position-shifts that harmed him in 2007, and was seen as the winner of the first few debates because he emerged relatively untouched by opponents.

A source close to Romney insisted that the insider narrative that he is deeply disliked by his peers is overblown, and based on the simple reality of the race.

“[Mitt is] rich, good-looking and the front-runner,” said the source. “So, that would be my first observation.”

Another Republican who knows Perry and Romney observed, “Despite how his rivals feel about him, Romney does have this very loyal group of staffers and supporters, so clearly they are seeing something [positive] in him.”

As the race reorients itself to a contest where Romney and Perry battle for front-runner status, the stylistic differences and approaches by the two candidates could offer a stark choice.

“Perry is hot and angry and Romney is cool and dispassionate. Perry is more the rebel outsider; Romney the establishment insider,” said former George W. Bush strategist Mark McKinnon. “They come from two different worlds. Rural Paint Creek vs. suburban Detroit. Texas A&M vs. Brigham Young. The question is: Do GOP primary voters want to nominate Arthur Fonzarelli or Richie Cunningham?”

Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.