CBS: Thousands Attend Start of Palin Book Tour

Crowd Chants "Palin! Palin!" Outside Mich. Book Store as Former VP Candidate Signs Copies of "Going Rogue"

College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight just to make sure they get an orange wristband Wednesday that would let them meet Sarah Palin.
Thousands gathered outside a Barnes & Noble and chanted "Palin! Palin! Palin!" for the kickoff of the former Republican vice presidential candidate's "Going Rogue" book tour, which has taken on the feel of a political pep rally.
"She's a person of faith, she has a family, she has gone through a lot of the trials and tribulations we have. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat," said Lana Smith, a dispatcher at a bus company who took the day off work and had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m.
"Someday I hope her name is up in lights and I'll have had the privilege of meeting her," Smith said.
Country music played as Palin's tour bus, painted to resemble the cover of her book, pulled up to the Woodland Mall in Grand Rapids.

College students Megan Patzky of Racine, Wis., and Sarah Cranmer of Chicago waited in line overnight and skipped their Wednesday classes at nearby Calvin College to get an autograph. Patzky planned to give the signed book to her father for Christmas.
After standing in the cold all night, Patzky and Cranmer were happy to get into the mall around 6:15 a.m. "We were hoping that someone would start selling coffee, but nobody did," Patzky joked. (see full story here at CBS News)