Why is Billy Graham so involved in the 2012 elections?

After years of shunning the partisan political spotlight, is Billy Graham a born-again Republican?

In May, the elderly evangelist was featured in an ad supporting a North Carolina referendum that would ban gay marriage.

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After a recent meeting with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association scrubbed language describing Mormonism as a “cult” from its website.

Two days later, the ministry announced a “vote biblical values” campaign, with Graham’s photo and signature accompanying a statement that opposed abortion and supported traditional marriage. Funded by specially designated donations from ministry supporters, the campaign includes newspaper ads and a website with downloadable posters and bulletin inserts.

Why has the famed evangelist — who has said he has learned hard lessons about being too political — getting so involved in the 2012 elections?

Experts who’ve watched Graham’s decades-long career say 2012 marks a new trajectory for the 93-year-old evangelist, and they speculate that Franklin Graham, his son and the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, could be playing a primary role.

“If not a new turn, he’s further down the road, with expressing a preference for a candidate,” said William Martin, author of “A Prophet With Honor,” a 1992 biography of Billy Graham. “I’m reasonably certain that he’s not done this before.”

At Romney’s meeting with both Grahams in North Carolina, Billy Graham told Romney he would “do all I can to help you,” according to a Romney campaign aide. Though the “vote biblical values” campaign does not mention Romney by name, it dovetails with his policies. President Barack Obama’s has said he personally supports same-sex marriage, and his campaign faith platform describes him as “pro-choice.”

Martin said Graham — who’s met with every president since Harry Truman — has often been coy about those relationships, while his son has not. The new BGEA campaign is “more in line” with the son’s historical behavior than the father’s, Martin said.

“I think that Franklin has an influence in there,” Martin said. “But I can’t say ... that he is leading his father to do something that he’s not willing to do.”

Martin said Graham’s seal of approval could serve to ease some evangelicals’ lingering discomfort with Romney’s Mormon faith. “Having Billy Graham’s blessing on Gov. Romney would certainly free people of reservations on that score,” Martin said.

Michael Hamilton, who chairs the history department at evangelical Seattle Pacific University, also sees the son’s hand behind Billy Graham’s political involvement.

“The’vote biblical values’ campaign repeats the slogans of the religious right in ways that Billy Graham never did until he was very old and frail,” Hamilton said. “I think it would be more reasonable for the media and for Americans to interpret these statements as the statements of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and its current president, Franklin Graham, as opposed to the statements of Billy Graham himself.”