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Palin dines with Franklin and Billy Graham
By Tim Funk
[email protected]
Posted: Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
Former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin arrives at the Asheville, N.C. airport on Sunday afternoon Nov. 22, 2009, for a visit with the Graham family. At left is Franklin Graham, who was there to meet her at the airport.
Sarah Palin, who will sign books today at Fort Bragg, made a stopover in Montreat on Sunday to have dinner with 91-year-old Billy Graham and his son, Franklin Graham, who issued the invitation.
"He just saw that she was going to be in the area and he said to come by," said Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for Franklin Graham.
Former Alaska Gov. Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008, was met at the Asheville airport by Franklin Graham Sunday afternoon. Then, after meeting with some fans, Palin headed for Billy Graham's mountaintop home in Montreat for dinner.
The Charlotte-born evangelist had never met Palin, who is now on a national book tour promoting her new memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." But Graham's oldest daughter, Gigi, told the Observer last year that he commented to her that Palin, whom he watched on TV during the election campaign, was "mighty pretty."
Franklin Graham got to know Palin early this year in Alaska. She accompanied him as Samaritan's Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Eskimo families in villages along the frozen Yukon River who had been hit by a harsh winter.
In financial disclosure do ents filed this year, Palin reported that Samaritan's Purse paid $1,664 for her airfare to and from the remote villages.
Samaritan's Purse has an office in Alaska, and Franklin Graham owns a cabin in the state. Graham also leads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which his father founded decades ago.
Asheville is also the home of the World, a conservative evangelical Christian magazine whose regular writers includes Lynn Vincent, Palin's ghostwriter on "Going Rogue," which is already a best seller.
Besides preaching to crowds all over the globe, Billy Graham acted as a pastor to several U.S. presidents. He's shied away from official endorsements over the years, but politicians have flocked to him - and he to them - for public seals of approval. Though a longtime registered Democrat, Graham's closest political friendships have been with Republicans such as Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush.
Last year, during the presidential election campaign, Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee who picked Palin as his running mate, made a courtesy call on the elderly Graham. Democrat Barack Obama had scheduled a meeting with Graham during a stop in nearby Asheville, but Graham, who has his good days and bad days, was not up to a visit at the time.
Palin, who is popular with many conservatives, is widely regarded as a possible contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
