John McCain meets with Billy Graham and son

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

June 30, 2008

MONTREAT, N.C. - John McCain met yesterday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's mountaintop retreat.

The Republican presidential candidate, who is courting religious voters and trying to reassure skeptical conservatives, visited privately with the Grahams on the grounds of Little Piney Cove in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina.

"We had a very excellent conversation. I appreciated the opportunity to visit with them," McCain said after the 45-minute meeting.

McCain's visit to North Carolina was his first sit-down with Billy Graham, 89, and with Franklin Graham, although McCain and the elder Graham are acquainted. McCain's father and Billy Graham also knew each other.

The evangelist is in poor health but apparently felt well enough to visit with McCain, who flew to North Carolina with the expectation of meeting only with Franklin Graham, who is president and chief executive of the evangelistic association his father founded in 1950.

McCain said he did not know if the Grahams would vote for him. "I didn't ask for their votes," he said, calling them "great leaders."

After the meeting, Franklin Graham issued a statement praising the Arizona senator's "personal faith and his moral clarity."

"The senator and I both have sons currently serving in the military, and also have a common interest in aviation," Franklin Graham said.

Franklin Graham said his father "expressed gratitude for the senator's long and brave service" to the country.

He said he was not endorsing anyone for president, but was urging "men and women of faith everywhere" to vote and be involved in the political process.

Earlier this month, Barack Obama, McCain's Democratic rival, met with the younger Graham, who was among about 30 evangelicals Obama met with in Chicago.