Hillary Clinton is open to coffee with Sarah Palin

U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reads the headlines in the Anchorage Daily News (''Board exonerates Palin'') while at a coffee stop shortly before casting her vote in Wasilla, Alaska, November 4, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is open to having coffee with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose forthcoming book about the 2008 presidential campaign is stirring controversy.

"I absolutely would look forward to having coffee," Clinton said from Singapore during an interview aired on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and a popular figure among some U.S. conservatives, is on a tour promoting her book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

In it, Palin says she and Clinton would disagree on many issues if they ever sat down for coffee, but praised Clinton for her hard work on the 2008 campaign trail. Clinton lost the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama.

"Obviously we're going to hear a lot more from her in the upcoming weeks with her book coming out and I would look forward to having a chance to actually get to meet her," Clinton told ABC's "This Week."

Clinton, the former first lady who served as a U.S. senator from New York before becoming secretary of state this year, also dismissed any interest in running for governor of New York.

"I am committed to the job that I have," Clinton said on ABC's program "This Week."

(Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Eric Walsh)