College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight to make sure they get an orange wristband that would let them meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. More than a thousand people - some sporting Palin Power stickers and Palin T-shirts - moved slowly into a bookstore to see the former Alaska governor on the first stop of her “Going Rogue” book tour. During the hours they waited, some broke out in chants of “Palin! Palin! Palin!” Scores more who couldn't get wristbands awaited Palin's arrival outside, braving the cold and yelling “USA!” and “Sarah, Sarah!” at an event that took on the feel of a political pep rally. The song “Only in America,” a standard on former President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign stops, played as Palin's tour bus, painted to resemble the cover of her book, pulled up to the Woodland Mall in the Midwestern state of Michigan. “I just can't tell you how good it is to be back in Michigan,” the former Alaska governor said after getting off the bus carrying her youngest son, Trig. “Alaska and Michigan have so much in common, with the huntin' and the fishin' and the hockey moms, and just the hardworking, patriotic Americans who are here.” Palin took time to shake hands with most of those in line whose book she signed. The memoir was released Tuesday but has topped best-seller lists for weeks.
