Sarah Palin meets with GOP fundraiser in Louisville

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From Ryan Alessi at the Buegrass Politics blog, we learn that just prior to speaking at the Women of Joy conference in Kentucky, Sarah Palin met with Louisville philanthropist and GOP fund-raiser Cathy Bailey Friday evening:

Bailey said Saturday she spoke with the former Alaska governor and husband Todd for more than 20 minutes at the Louisville Crowne Plaza Hotel.

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The two women also talked politics, although Palin didn’t let on whether she will run for president in 2012, Bailey said.

“I told her, ‘You definitely energized the party, Governor, and there’s a groundswell out there with the Tea Party movement,’” Bailey said. Palin responded that she was eager to “make sure good candidates get through these primaries,” Baliey said.

Bailey had considered making a U.S. Senate run this year until a tragic Christmas day fire destroyed her Louisville home and took the lives her two grandsons. She said Gov. Palin expressed her sympathy to Irv and Cathy Bailey for their loss.

Bailey, who said she is committed to “putting true conservatives in Washington,” has not taken sides in the GOP primary battle between Rand Paul and Trey Grayson:

“We have a primary and whoever comes out of that, I will work very hard to make sure they’re elected in November,” she said.

Bailey, who served as U.S. ambassador to Latvia during part of President George W. Bush’s administration, spent 2008 as the chairman of the Kentucky fund-raising efforts for U.S. Sen. John McCain and Palin’s ticket. Although Bailey and Palin had met before during the campaign, Friday was their first time “to really sit down and have some time to have a conversation,” Bailey said.

“And I think we will stay in touch, because we share a lot of common interests,” she said. “We’re both moms and we share concern about what’s happening in this administration, and we continue to be interested in getting more women involved in the political process.”

As she makes appearances across the country, Gov. Palin continues to develop and strengthen ties with Republicans and conservative political heavyweights such as Cathy Bailey at the state and local levels, which strikes us as "smart girl politics."

- JP