You thought Frazier and Ali was something?

“Poo, Honey, that was a little bit of nothing whittled down to a point,” Juanita grins as I enter the beauty salon this morning.

“Just you wait and see the hair pullin’ and slappin’ that goes on between Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann,” she says.  “I predict they’ll raise more dust in five minutes than Noah’s flood could have settled.”

It’s already started.  And, semi-appropriately, it’s in Waterloo.  Iowa, that is.

The convergence of two high-profile campaigns at a GOP dinner in Waterloo, IA tonight promises the polite and strained feel of a weigh-in at a boxing match. Fresh from her win at the Ames Straw Poll, Michele Bachmann will appear at the dinner alongside Texas Gov. Rick Perry –- who made his own news Saturday by announcing his presidential bid.

Consider that Waterloo is Bachmann’s childhood city, and this evening’s drama comes into focus.

And then there’s even a bit more drama, plus some hurt feelings: The local Republican Party (the Black Hawk County GOP) says it sent Bachmann — and the other major presidential candidates — an invitation to tonight’s dinner six weeks ago. But the Bachmann campaign, sources tell NBC News, called after 11:00 pm last Tuesday Wednesday with a request: that Bachmann come to the event only if she won the straw poll.

Juanita is putting odds at about even.  “If Perry leaves his coyote pistol at home, it might be a fair fight because Bachmann would fight a buzz saw and give it three turns head start.”

Juanita believes the pickin’s are powerful slim in the GOP primary and Rick Perry thinks he can thin the herd.

“You know,” she says, “after Tom DeLay resigned most folks figured I would, too.  They asked what I’d have to write about with Tom gone.  I reassured them that Texas has a never-ending supply of nincompoops and they abhor a vacuum.  Was I right or was I dirty dog downtown right?”

Thanks to David for the heads-up.