Obama takes campaign break to visit ill grandmother

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Barack Obama takes a break from the presidential race on Thursday for a personal journey to see his ailing grandmother in Hawaii, ceding a day of campaigning to rival John McCain less than two weeks before the election.

Obama will spend private time in Honolulu on Friday visiting Madelyn Dunham, the woman who helped raise him and whom he affectionately calls "Toot" -- short for "tutu," the Hawaiian word for grandmother.

The 85-year-old Dunham recently broke her hip and is very ill. Obama said he did not want to repeat the mistake he made with his mother, who died of cancer before he could reach her bedside.

"We knew she wasn't doing well, but you know, the diagnosis was such that we thought we had a little more time and we didn't," Obama said of his mother's death in an interview with CBS's "Early Show" aired on Thursday. "And so I want to make sure that I don't make the same mistake twice."

The break comes as the two candidates open a final sprint to the November 4 election, with some opinion polls showing Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, expanding his lead over Republican McCain, an Arizona senator.

After a midday rally in Indianapolis, Obama will turn his campaign plane towards Honolulu for an 11-hour trip, including a refuelling stop. He will spend barely 24 hours on the ground before returning to Nevada on Friday night.

But Obama's campaign will hardly go dark in his absence. Before he leaves he will tape an ABC interview to be aired on Friday, and the relentless advertising fuelled by his record-smashing fundraising will roll on.

His wife, Michelle, and running mate Joe Biden also will stay on the campaign trail.