McCain visits Billy Graham

Presidential campaign trail

LM Otero
AP

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (center), visits Sunday with Christian evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the Graham family mountaintop retreat in Montreat , N.C.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, met Sunday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's North Carolina mountaintop retreat.

McCain, who actively is courting religious voters and trying to reassure skeptical conservatives, visited privately with the Grahams.

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

This was McCain's first sit-down with Billy Graham, 89, and with Franklin Graham, although McCain and the elder Graham are acquainted.

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

He said he was not endorsing anyone for president but was urging 'men and women of faith everywhere' to vote.

Meanwhile, McCain's likely Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barak Obama, took a break from campaigning Sunday.

Obama managed a 30-minute gym workout, then got a hair cut at Chicago's Hyde Park Hair Salon, where he's been a customer for several years. He then took his daughters and his wife, Michelle, to play basketball.

Later, he went to a barbecue at a friend's house a couple of miles from his home.

Obama returns to the campaign trail today in Independence, Mo.