"THE weather might be a bit dreich in Edinburgh this morning," said the First Minister, although the now customary throng of disciples who seem to appear wherever she goes these days didn't seem to mind a bit of drizzle.

"But the outlook for Scotland is sunny."

These troops, plenty waving "I'm with Nicola" banners many of which were coloured Labour red, didn't need rallying. But Nicola Sturgeon did it anyway, claiming her party was "in touching distance of doing something the SNP has never done in our history... we are within touching distance of winning a Westminster election". The horde roared its approval.

But the votes of at least 300 activists, councillors, MSPs and prospective MPs that surrounded her, obviously, were in the bag. So the FM moved on to make her pitch as a unifying figure to those who might have been watching at home, or perhaps the confused shoppers who wandered up out of curiosity in an attempt to find out what all the fuss was about.

This 'watershed' election, she said, was "an opportunity to come together as a country, to unite as one country, to unite and link arms as one Scotland, and vote SNP to make our voice heard." She insisted her message was directed to "everyone across our great country... to those who voted Yes and those who voted No. To those who have always voted SNP and those who have never, ever voted SNP before. It goes to those who live in urban Scotland, in rural Scotland, in island Scotland and Highland and Lowland Scotland. East, West, North, South..."

Speech over, the First Minister moved on to selfie duty, with the last few of the SNP's 100,000+ members still apparently without a prized cameraphone close-up with their hero. Surely, on the penultimate day of this campaign, she must have developed some sort of repetitive strain injury by now? But she patiently and happily took phones, clicked away, only interrupted by the odd microphone being shoved under her nose.

Her husband, the SNP's influential chief executive Peter Murrell, was temporarily demoted to official pen carrier, producing a black marker when autograph seekers appeared. He raised a laugh when he posed for his own snap with the First Minister, holding his own 'I'm with Nicola' poster. Slowly, the surge for selfies eased off and Ms Sturgeon waved farewell, making a painstakingly slow getaway as she sought to appease a media scrum that included journalists and cameramen from all over the world.

Meanwhile, fundraisers jangled buckets, sold badges and even novelty foam hands, wringing an extra few quid from the audience. Personalised helicopters, after all, don't pay for themselves.