INDIANAPOLIS , Indiana (AFP) — Front-runner Barack Obama was Thursday set to quit the White House trail for Hawaii and an emotional reunion with his gravely ill 85-year-old grandmother, just 12 days before the election.
Ailing Madelyn Dunham raised the 47-year-old Obama for much of his childhood, and is his sole remaining link with his tight-knit family, after his mother died of cancer more than a decade ago.
The Democratic nominee's compassionate leave comes with Republican John McCain searching for a sudden lurch in momentum and new polls showing Obama well positioned in the vital battleground states set to decide the election.
Obama told CBS that he decided to make the exhausting journey across the Pacific to see Dunham -- nicknamed "Toot" -- despite the crush of campaign events as he "got there too late" when his mother, Ann Dunham died.
"We knew that she wasn't doing well but, you know, the diagnosis was such where we thought we had a little more time and we didn't. And so I want to make sure that I don't -- I don't make the same mistake twice," Obama said.
"My grandmother's the last one left. She has really been the rock of the family, the foundation of the family. Whatever strength, discipline that I have, it comes from her," Obama said.
Dunham is reportedly suffering from a broken hip and generally failing health, though the campaign has not given details of her condition.
The Democratic nominee was set to hold a morning rally in midwestern Indiana, a key swing state before flying 11 hours through the night to his native state. He was due to return to the trail in Nevada on Saturday.
Obama's mercy mission comes as he leads his rival McCain in the latest surveys of the key battlegrounds. He will miss a full day of campaigning Friday, and return to the trail on Saturday.
The Democrat's absence, unprecedented this close to election day, may give McCain the chance to grab the limelight as he searches for way to suddenly shift the momentum of a race that seems to be slipping away.
But Obama's place on the trail will be filled by wife Michelle, and the campaign will use some of its mammoth multi-million dollar financial advantage over McCain to saturate the airways with Obama ads.
A new sheaf of polls in battleground states by Quinnipiac University cast sharp doubt on McCain's prospects.
Obama led the Republican in Florida by 49 to 44 percent, compared to a 51-43 percent lead in the last survey October 1, and in Pennsylvania by 53-40 percent, compared to 54-39 percent last time.
McCain lost ground in Ohio, often the decisive state in presidential elections, where Obama leads 52-38 percent, expanding his lead of 50-42 percent at the beginning of this month.
No candidate has been elected president since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the US electoral college.
"To overcome Senator Obama's lead in Ohio, Senator McCain would have to get virtually every voter who remains undecided plus almost all of the Obama supporters who said they still might change their minds," Quinnipiac assistant director of polling Brown.
McCain was set for a bus tour through key parts of Florida Thursday dedicated to "Joe the Plumber," the Ohio tradesman who has become an emblem for his claims that Obama wants to hike taxes.
Some recent polls have suggested the race in Florida, ground zero for the 2000 election debacle, is very close, and could be narrowing in the Republican's favor.
On Wednesday, he and running mate Sarah Palin charged that Obama's economic policies would choke growth in desperate economic times.
But Obama, spending more time to outline his plans which he says would actually give 95 percent of Americans a tax cut, accused his rival of siding with "Joe the Hedge fund manager" and "Joe the CEO."
But the Democratic nominee's main focus on Thursday was his family, and "Toot" -- a derivation of the Hawaiian word for grandmother.
Asked if there could be political risk in taking time away from the campaign trail so close to the November 4 presidential vote, Obama said: "I think most people understand that if you're not caring for your family, then you're probably not the kind of person who's going to be caring for other people."
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