Part of certification as a true "celebrity," these days, would seem to involve the appearance of "celebrity look-alikes."

On that score, Ms Palin seems to have made the grade very quickly, and has already suppassed Mr Obama as a gen-u-wine tabloid-grade celeb.

For all the Republicans' denunciation of their opponent as "nothing but a rock-star celebrity," their own VP candidiate seems to have attained non-political star status first.