Palin visits Rev. Billy Graham

MONTREAT, N.C., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Governor-turned-author Sarah Palin discussed politics and religion with Billy Graham over dinner at Graham's North Carolina retreat, the minister's son said.

Graham's son, Franklin, said his 91-year-old father has followed Palin's career and "likes her strong stand on faith," The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Monday.

"Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up," the younger Graham said.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate who quit as governor of Alaska in the middle of her first term, interrupted her book-signing tour to visit the evangelist at his mountaintop home in Montreat in western North Carolina.

Graham's son also said his father got a call Nov. 12 from President Barack Obama, who called as he traveled to Asia.

"He said he wanted to come by and meet my father sometime," Franklin Graham said, as well as offer belated birthday wishes. The elder Graham celebrated his birthday Nov. 7.

Graham told the president he'd be happy to meet with him and then shared a verse from the Book of Proverbs, his son said.

Palin got to know Franklin Graham this year when she accompanied him as Samaritan's Purse -- a Boone, N.C., international relief agency Graham leads -- delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Eskimo families living along the Yukon River hit by a harsh winter.

Franklin Graham said Palin didn't reveal whether she may run for president in 2012.

"Daddy prayed for whatever God had in store for her," Franklin Graham said.