With no signs the two have patched things up — and with some suggestion that Rove, or at least his team, is tilting toward Romney — speculating how their relationship would play out if Perry becomes a candidate has become something of a fixation among Perry supporters and other Republicans in Texas and Washington…

One person who has sent checks to both American Crossroads and Perry’s campaigns predicted that if Perry wins the nomination, his donors will cut off the spigot to Rove…

“The potential is great that Karl Rove will have some desire to undermine Rick Perry’s presidential bid because Perry is not Karl’s kind of candidate,” said R.G. Ratcliffe, a Texas reporter writing a book on Perry.

And, he added, “If Perry wins and he has the sense that Rove was somehow undermining him in the process, then there could be payback.”