Romney-Perry feud dates back to 2002 Olympic Games

The Texas governor suggests that Romney made the decision based on political opportunism, citing the controversial issue at the time of Boy Scouts not allowing gay troop masters.

Romney said then that Boy Scouts couldn’t volunteer because most weren’t 18 years old, the mandatory minimum age the Olympics set for volunteers.

The dispute serves to highlight the contrast between two very different candidates for the presidency who appear headed toward a bitter clash for the nomination. They will appear on the same debate stage for the first time next week.

Where Romney frequently exudes corporate cool and is distrusted by Tea Party activists, Perry relies on red-hot rhetoric and is embraced by many in the Tea Party movement. Where Romney got business and law degrees from Harvard, Perry was a “yell leader’’ at Texas A&M.

Family lore for Perry involves pulling out a laser-sighted pistol while jogging to shoot a coyote that threatened his daughter’s Labrador retriever. For Romney, it was putting the family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, in a dog carrier atop the station wagon during a 12-hour trip from Massachusetts to Ontario.

“They have different demeanor and a different political profile,’’ said Republican consultant Terry Holt, who is unaligned in the race. “Romney seems to be a fairly cautious, methodical person. Rick Perry is a bit more of a punch in the nose.’’

Their relationship has not been deep, but they have had several interactions over the years, many of them not chummy.

In an encounter cited by both sides as helping define their frosty personal interactions, Romney went to Texas in 2006 to meet with Perry. But Perry was furious at the time that Romney, who was chairman of the Republican Governors Association, had on its staff an adviser who was also working for one of Perry’s political rivals.