Billy Graham invites Palin for dinner

Sarah Palin had Sunday dinner with the Reverend Billy Graham a day before a planned stop on her book tour in eastern North Carolina.

The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee flew into Asheville and then went to Billy Graham’s mountaintop home in Montreat for dinner, said Jeremy Blume, a spokesman for Mr Graham’s son, Franklin.

Franklin Graham invited Mrs Palin.

“He just saw that she was going to be in the area and he said to come by,” Mr Blume told The Charlotte Observer.

The elder Mr Graham had never met Mrs Palin, who is scheduled to stop at the military base Fort Bragg today to promote her memoir, 'Going Rogue: An American Life'.

Franklin Graham got to know Mrs Palin early this year in Alaska.

She accompanied him as Samaritan’s Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered groceries to Alaskan families who had been hit by a harsh winter in villages along the frozen Yukon River.

Samaritan’s Purse has an office in Alaska, and Franklin Graham owns a cabin in the state. Mr Graham also leads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which his father founded decades ago.