I would just like to expand a bit on this subject. In my view, when "he said" comes before the quotation, you will more likely see a colon, though the comma is also acceptable.
He said: "Is this the most important issue to discuss right now?"
She answered: "No, there are far weightier subjects that require our attention."
If you turn this around, you would most likely see:
"Is this the most important issue to discuss right now?" he asked (or said).
"No, there are far weightier subjects that require our attention," she answered.
Here, if there is no other punctuation at the end of the sentence, you would find a comma (as in the second sentence, where a comma is in place of the period). In the case of a question or exclamation, there is no comma (as in the case of the first sentence).
I hope this is clear.