on a bitterly cold day to see their heroine at a Colorado Springs book-signing. Turns out a few diehards were even more devoted, spending the previous night in their car to be sure they were among the first to be showered in the golden light of her presence. No deaths were reported.

The video package above, by Channel 31 reporter Eli Stokols, does a good job of capturing the flavor of the event via interviews with the likes of devotee Taylor Schettler, who declares, "I couldn't sleep last night -- I was like a kid waiting for Santa," and adds that she relates to Palin in part because "She's a pageant girl, and I'm a pageant girl!"

As for members of the press, an institution that gets a good bashing in Palin's mega-selling tome, Going Rogue: An American Life, SP treated them with amusing contempt. Stokols notes that she didn't even allow reporters on the same floor where her signing took place, leaving them to interview the likes of her aunt, Katie Johnson, in lieu of the star herself.

It's as if Palin said, "Screw you, media! I can treat you like crap and you'll still cover my every move!" And she's right.