After Mixed Signals, Palin to Attend GOP Dinner

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will attend a big GOP fundraising dinner Monday night in Washington, D.C., to raise money for Republican congressional candidates, FOX News has learned.

Palin will attend the event but will not speak.

Palin was originally asked to deliver the keynote address at the dinner, a major event to bankroll Republican House and Senate campaigns.

But after a press release earlier this spring, her office said she had not accepted the invitation and was still mulling it over.

That delay led the GOP Senatorial and congressional campaign committees to ditch Palin in favor of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. At the time, a senior GOP source familiar with the invitation described the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate as a "disaster."

A senior Republican source suggested that Palin was "miffed" after it was clear she wouldn't be speaking. Palin was then asked if she would like to attend as NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn's guest.

In recent days, Palin has toured the lower 48 states. Over the weekend, she attended a New York Yankees game with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. She also visited the Seward home in Auburn, N.Y., residence of the late Secretary of State William Seward. Alaska is celebrating its 50th year of statehood, and Seward helped purchase the territory in 1867.

At the time, critics decried the move as "Seward's folly."

The annual dinner is the major fundraising venue for Republican House and Senate candidates. Former President George W. Bush spoke at previous dinners while he was in office.

FOX News' Carl Cameron and Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.