Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, former surrogate for the McCain campaign, and current exploratory candidate for Senate in 2010, declined to answer a question about Sarah Palin. Blogger Bill Black reports that Fiorina spoke to a business meeting in San Francisco Thursday night:

But most interestingly, she was asked whether Sarah Palin displayed leadership qualities. The question was asked in apparent sincerity, but her physical reaction seemed to suggest that she considered it a hostile question.

Here's her response, word for word, in its entirety:

"I've never met Sarah Palin. Next question."

Fiorina later added: "As Winston Churchill said, 'there are not inappropriate questions, only inappropriate answers.'"

Fiorina spokeswoman Beth Miller confirmed to TPM that this exchange did take place, though she clarified that the reference to Churchill was not made in rapid succession from the Palin statement, and was not a direct follow-up.

One has to wonder whether Fiorina's reluctance to answer a question about Palin comes from her famous gaffe in 2008, when she said that Palin did not have the experience to run a major company like HP, "But you know what? That's not what she's running for." Miller was not able to comment on that possibility.