Not Walker. Something had to give all those years she was a mother and career woman and community servant, and that something was sleep. Walker accomplished much of her work done late at night. Now she is an insomniac. She has slept about three or four hours a night most of her adult life, although she says she has improved to four or five lately. Somehow, she has had just one sick day in 11 years.

Before she became governor, she spent her sleepless nights doing laundry, reading, cleaning, catching up with her e-mail and watching the news. "I can tell you every news station there is," she says. "I can tell you that the business news is on at 4 a.m. I do have a hard time sleeping. I wish I could sleep more."

During the Republican Convention in New York this year, where she was forced to wander a tiny hotel room instead of the house while Myron slept, she finally dressed and went down to the hotel lobby, where she met other politicos. They wound up wandering around New York at 1 a.m.

"Security wasn't very happy with her," says Myron.

"She has always been famous for roaming the house, from bed to bed and couch to couch," says Slighting. "One time when I was dating my husband we had stayed up late studying for a test and fell asleep. When we woke up, we found her sleeping on the couch by us. The amazing thing is, she doesn't wake up grumpy. She can function."

Nice . . . but driven

Sleep isn't the only thing she gives up to keep pace with her schedule. Vanity took a back seat to practicality. She no longer wears earrings — "Takes too long," she says — and sometimes applies makeup in the car. She claims she can get ready for anything in five minutes, including a shower, and Covington verifies this. "I have pulled up in the car many times, and she'll be down in five minutes."

Which explains why Walker has been known to stick her head out the car window to dry her hair en route to some ceremony, sometimes showing up with her 'do literally frozen in place.

"She's not at all about trappings," says Varela. "She's just not vain. We were always reminding her that she was a person of stature, and if she was giving a speech she should have her hair dry."

Despite the pressure-packed pace and demands of her schedule and the lack of sleep, Walker maintains her famously mild temperament. "I can never remember her getting mad at me," says Slighting. "She is the most patient person. She holds her own in a tough situation, but she doesn't let things bother her."