McCain, Grahams have 'excellent conversation' but no endorsement: Private meeting at McCain's request

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain visited evangelists Billy and Franklin Graham for “a very excellent conversation” at the elder preacher’s North Carolina home June 29.

In a statement following the meeting. McCain said, “Billy Graham recalled that during the Vietnam War when I was a prisoner, he visited my parents twice in Honolulu, and he and my father prayed together for me. And I expressed my appreciation for that a long time ago.”

Franklin Graham said the 45-minute private meeting took place at McCain’s request. “I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today,” he said in a statement. “We had an opportunity to pray for the senator and his family, and for God’s will to be done in this upcoming election.”

McCain told reporters afterward that he did not know if either Graham would vote for him, the Associated Press reported. “I didn’t ask for their votes,” the senator said.

Franklin Graham, who attended an earlier meeting with Democratic senator Barack Obama, did not consider the meeting with McCain as a presidential endorsement. “While as a Christian minister I am not endorsing a candidate for president, I do endorse the responsibility of men and women of faith everywhere to vote and to be involved in the political process,” he said. –Religion News Service