Fiorina Says She Never Met Palin

Ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R), a top surrogate for and advisor to Sen. John McCain's presidential run, says she never met vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin during the campaign.

"I have not met her," Fiorina told reporters 11/18 at a DC hotel. "But I defended her against what I thought was sexist treatment when it occurred. I will defend any woman against sexist treatment when I think it's occurring."

In her first visit to DC since announcing her candidacy two weeks ago, Fiorina has been drumming up GOP support, holding a fundraiser 11/17 p.m. attended by 15 GOP sens. "from [Tom] Coburn to [Olympia] Snowe." She also met with conservative groups including Americans for Tax Reform.

As one of several GOPers facing potentially bloody primary battles in '10, Fiorina must walk a fine line between courting the conservative base and appealing to indies. And Palin, embarking on a closely-watched book tour this week, is becoming a key figure in that intra-party conflict.

Just as Fiorina was announcing her bid earlier this month, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) penned a letter seeking Palin's endorsement, and ex-Amb. to Ireland Tom Foley (R) said yesterday he'd "certainly welcome" Palin to campaign for him in CT.

But even as she defends her rightward flank against a primary challenge from Assemb. Chuck DeVore (R), who recently garnered the endorsement of conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Fiorina appears eager to put as much distance between herself and Palin as she can.

Asked whether Palin hurt the McCain campaign, Fiorina dodged: "You know, I don't know. You ought to ask professional politicians and people who ran the polls on that."

On whether she'd want Palin to back her bid: "You know, Sarah Palin is clearly selling a lot of books and really busy on a book tour."

And even though McCain's got his own signed copy of Palin's memoir, Fiorina wants to make clear she, for one, hasn't read "Going Rogue."

"I'm focused on 2010 and Barbara Boxer, frankly," she said.

(FELICIA SONMEZ)